Those Snake Folk
by TheGreatJabberyJamie
Summary: Resh is an Akavirian Tsaesci having a hard time adjusting to being the Dragonborn and his ever-following companion Lydia, please review, eventual MaleDovahkiin/Lydia "M rated stuff". Other M rated pairings that are in this are FemaleOC/MaleDragonborn Het and Brelyna/Saadia Femslash.
1. Dragging The Snake By The Tail

**Hey people, this is my first Fanfic, it's about a Tsaesci in Skyrim, in The Elder Scrolls lore they are giant, vampiric, immortal (can live forever as long as not killed), golden Snakes with arms that breed goblins to eat, devour dragons and can change shape. I've tried to make him a bit weaker hence the snow dilemma because it might seem too powerful to have no weakness. Please review and favourite if you liked and just send me a PM of what I can do to make it better :) I will try and update every week.**

**Sadly I do not own Skyrim, Bethesda does. I have a copy of the game though.**

With every clunk of the turning wheels Resh could hear what his people would say to him. He could feel his shame talking to him, telling him he wasn't worthy of being a Tsaesci, that he was weak and undisciplined. How could he allow himself to be so foolish, he almost deserved to be beheaded for letting those imperial, human 'prey' capture him crossing the border. Luckily for him, it was whilst scouting so he had already taken the form of a Dunmer. He was being beheaded for illegal border crossing and he could only imagine what would happen if he were found in his true form. He didn't expect the empire would be happy to have discovered a giant golden snake from another continent was trying to scout the very Empire that they had fought to keep away from his kind on many an occasion.

There were others on the cart: three more humans, bound like he was. One of them had a gag in his mouth for a reason unknown to him. Perhaps he would ask if given the chance but at the moment that was of little concern to him. The other two Nords were talking to him, but he wasn't in the mood to listen and wasn't much of a talker. The only thing on his mind was trying to escape which, unfortunately, was not an option. He was unarmed, injured and weak from this God-forsaken snow. Of all the things Resh had seen in his life he had never come across something he hated as much as this snow. It was so different to the desert and jungle lands of Akavir.

The cold just drained him. Being a cold blooded snake, this was especially bad for him. For him, the most perilous part of his scouting was the cold as it would make him inflexible and unable to fight properly, the ultimate tragedy for his warlike kind. The worst part was that, just to be able to function, he had to bask in the sun every day to heat up his blood, once at the right temperature he could use some of his magic reserves to keep that way, but at a cost of less magic. His superiors had told him that of all things, the snow would be the most likely thing to kill him. But they were wrong. Who would have thought, of all things, that he would be killed by the very 'prey' he was scouting out to hunt.

The cart grinded to halt at the edge of the city snapping him out the thoughts he had been lost in. He could have laughed. He had almost forgotten that he was going to lose his head because he was dwelling on a little bit of cold. Resh was then moved out of the small cart, and lined up against a wall next to the other captives and a soldier started calling out the names. One prisoner even had the bravery or the foolishness to try running away when his name was called. He didn't get very far before he was peppered with arrows from the archers that were close. To be honest, that was going to be Resh's escape plan, with the addition of turning into his true form. But after seeing how that went, Resh decided he was going to give it a pass.

"And you… You're not on the list. What's your name prisoner?" the soldier asked. Resh didn't know what to say so he just stood silent, hoping his life would just be ended quickly. "I said what is your name?" she demanded again in a more commanding tone.

He could think of a fake name, but there would be no point. So he just stated truthfully, "Resh, my name is Resh."

"Resh? I have not heard of a name like that before. But Dunmer like yourself are never entirely normal. Fear naught, though. I will have your remains will be sent to Morrowind for you." If she had known where he was really from, she wouldn't have said that in the calm manner she had.

As he and the other live prisoners were escorted over to the block, Resh thought about how he was going to die. Hands bound together. The death of a slave. One of the mighty Tsaesci, an immortal shape-changing warrior species known for devouring the dragons of Akavir, feared by man because of their combat prowess and vampiric tendencies, let alone the fact they consider humans as prey, now reduced to almost nothing. At least there had one small consolation, Resh thought as his head was kicked down upon the block and the headsman lifted his blade. His clan would never know of this shame. Resh smiled. It seemed mad to him that he could take solace in such a little victory like this. So mad that he almost didn't notice the sounds of the roaring and burning the World-Eater created as he started his assault on the city of Helgen.

**I hope you all enjoyed :) feel free to PM me about anything (criticism, spell checks, advice etc) but I would also really like it if you put in a review, please follow if you want to read more, as this is to be continued, it will probably have another chapter by next week. Keep in mind that this is my first Fanfic so I'm probably not all that good.**

**Thank you all, 'till next time'**


	2. The Snake That Got Away

**Thank you everyone that read and reviewed, please review this chapter as well and PM if there's anything wrong with it I should change. I hope you like this chapter as well. To people that may wonder how 'Tsaesci' is pronounced I like to say it like "Say-Ski".**

Resh dragged himself up off the cold, hard ground and stared up at the blazing inferno. His senses only just beginning to wake up. His eyes adjusted to the new bursts of light and flame that erupted from the dragons jaws. His hearing was a bit slower to kick in because he could hear a sharp ringing in his ears as the nearest building exploded into fire and rubble. Despite all this noise he could hear the distinct sound of that other man from the carts voice.

Resh's survival instinct came into play and urged him to move towards the voice, even though he didn't know what he was saying. Right now all Resh cared about was staying alive and away from the burning city being ripped to shreds by a dragon.

"In here. This way! Come on!" shouted the man from the cart. Resh dove into the tower, narrowly avoiding flying pieces of debris and fire from the explosions outside. When inside, Resh finally had a chance to get his bearings and stop his head ringing.

"Jarl Ulfric". The man currently in the building turned after hearing his name. "The legends are true," the man who had just saved his life exclaimed in utter disbelief.

"Legends don't burn down buildings," added Ulfric. Resh noticed that the man known as Ulfric had pulled off the gag he previously wore on the cart.

"Up through the tower," commanded the first man, usually Resh would have never willingly followed the orders of some armour coated 'prey' but he was in no position to argue. The adrenaline pulsing through his body made everything from there on was a blur. He could remember the dragon shooting fire towards him blasting rock and timber out of the way. Resh didn't know if he was going crazy or not but it almost sounded like the dragon was shouting the words "Inferno" and "Sun".

"Jump!" the man urged, trying to get him away from the tower and into the marginally safer building. Although for what reason, Resh didn't know. Resh offered silent thanks to the man who had saved him twice now and leapt with the little strength he had left from this whole turn of events into the burning building. Even though Resh was thankful he had been saved, he still couldn't think of a reason why that man he didn't even know the name of had tried to save him. If all humans were like this he would still consider them prey but he would have to rethink the lifelong concept he had of them as being without honour. Resh didn't have time to dwell on this though. He needed to escape from a burning building, Sprinting down the burning staircase and bursting through the door Resh was finally out in the open again.

Shortly after escaping the burning building, Resh was addressed by a soldier in imperial armour "Prisoner, follow me if you want to stay alive." Taking orders from any man was bad enough, but to follow the command of an imperial made Resh's blood boil. Unfortunately, he knew it was either to choose that or to choose death. _'On the other hand, perhaps being on good terms with an imperial would grant me access to some key information his species might want. Or at the very least give him an opportunity to stab me in the back and kill a few imperial prey,' _Resh considered.

Resh rushed after the imperial, seeing it as his only chance of survival. The dragon was slaughtering the rest of the townspeople and imperial soldiers. Resh would have smiled if it weren't for the innocents dying. He was always taught that he should only slay those who can hold a sword or wield a flame but to leave the harmless unharmed.

Resh could see the unnamed man he met earlier standing by a door near the city keep. He debated if he should keep following the imperial because of the opportunities that might arise after helping him. But at the end of the day he just couldn't bring himself to fight alongside the armoured coated scum known as the imperial legion, so he followed the unnamed man into the castle depths.

After several minutes of walking through a maze of stone walls and wooden furniture Resh decide to ask his newly found ally what his name was.

"The names Ralof of Riverwood, warrior in the Stormcloak army and enemy of the imperials," he stated.

'_Enemy of the imperials, huh? I could grow to like this man'. _

"Resh. I'm from… I'm not from around here. Also a strong hater of the imperials." Resh spat the word 'imperials' out with sheer loathing.

"I see…" Ralof chuckled awkwardly, a bit disturbed by the fact he viciously hissed at the end of his sentence and seemed to roll his S's.

"Who was that Jarl Ulfric man from earlier?" Resh inquired.

"You really are new to Skyrim, aren't you? That man is Jarl of Windhelm and the leader of the Stormcloak army. The army I am in. It seeks to take Skyrim out of the hands of the Imperials and back into those of the Nords. You seem to despise the imperials. Perhaps you should think of joining. I'm sure you will make a fine warrior," remarked the rebel.

"Perhaps I will," announced Resh, beaming with pride at Ralof's remark. "Why did he have a gag on in the cart, though?" Resh asked.

"He used the power of the Voice to kill the High King of Skyrim. I wasn't there but it is said Ulfric shouted the old king apart with just his voice," Ralof proclaimed.

Resh snorted in derision at such absurd claims. A man with that power couldn't have been captured so easily. But, then again, he was a mighty serpentine Tsaesci warrior and he was taken prisoner. That regretable act of disrespect brought the pleasant conversation to a swift end, as it seemed Ralof took offense to his snort. So the two just continued the walk in silence.

Along the way they encountered a few imperial soldiers but the two dispatched them with ease, Resh was suprised at the mans combat prowess. Of course it didn't match his own, but for a mortal it was something to be admired. Picking up everything they came across, Resh finally found some armour to use and a better sword to wield.

The two fighters finally reached the end of the tunnel-like dungeon and emerged into the sun light, blinding them as their eyes had to adjust.

"I'm going to return to Riverwood, you should meet me there in a day or two and we can talk about you joining the Stormcloaks. Thank you for helping me escape. Without you, I don't know if I would have made it out alive," admitted Ralof before following the road back to his home town.

Resh watched as his new 'human ally' walked off into the distance and when he was out of sight, changed his form into that of a Nord. In their own country they would probably be treated better. Resh took his time to take in the scenery and the magnificent landscape around him. He thought the last he would see of any of this natural beauty would be on the cart trip to his death. And to think it was a dragon had just saved him from being killed and never seeing the outdoors again. He wondered if it could see the irony considering what his species used to do to them when they weren't extinct.

**To all you reading this, I hoped you liked this chapter and if so can you leave a review for me, it will be greatly appreciated. Sorry this chapter took some time to write I had a lack of inspiration, any advice from you guys about what I should think about doing now would be great. I have some ideas but I want to hear what you have to say.**

**I'll try and put another chapter up soon, thanks for reading.**


	3. A Snakes New Skin

**I would have had this chapter out a bit sooner but I injured my finger and it hurts to type, so I'm sorry for the wait. I wasn't going to actually make this chapter but a reader persuaded me to after I already finished writing what is now chapter 4, so there are two chapters today. I hope you enjoy :)**

It had been a few days since Resh had left cave with Ralof, and Resh was starting to get bored of basking in the sun, as hard as it was to believe. Resh was a warrior. He needed to fight. He needed to feel the thrill of being outnumbered. And most of all, Resh needed to feel that rush that you can only feel when using your bare hands to crush the skull of a man coated in steel.

Resh never fully understood why humans wore armour. He knew it was to protect them but because of the extreme lack of flexibility he always thought it was more of a hindrance than a help. For example, Resh had just snapped the neck of a sabre cat that strayed too close without it even landing a claw on him and he knew for a fact he wouldn't be able to do that with plate metal weighing him down. Although it might also be the fact Resh had another 412 years of fighting experience more than an overgrown kitten.

That overgrown kitten had actually provided him for a good month's worth of food. Of course he only had to eat once a month so it wasn't that much, but Resh wasn't complaining. As Resh was coiled on the ground swallowing down the cats entire front leg he felt lonely sitting there on his own. Loneliness wasn't an emotion he had felt for a long time. Resh couldn't believe that he missed that human he met in Helgen. If his kind found out they would see it as a form of weakness. The last time he felt loneliness was when his parents died. This time it wasn't as bad of course but he could feel the same emotion of loneliness creeping into his mind.

The next morning Resh decided he was going to take up Ralof's offer and meet him in Riverwood. So, taking the form of a Nord, he set off the way he saw Ralof go out of the cave. When he arrived, he saw the rebel he was looking for outside wandering through his little village and expected him to notice him, but he didn't even give him a second glance.

'_How rude'_ thought Resh.

"Ralof!" Resh called out to him whilst walking over to him.

"I'm sorry, do I know you? I can't seem place your face," he replied.

"It's me, Resh. Don't you recognise me? We met in Helgen after the dragon attacked" Just the Resh realised why the man didn't recognise him. Ralof knew him to be a Dunmer not a Nord. Before Resh had time to think of an excuse or run away to change forms, Ralof started to speak again.

"You're not the man from Helgen. He was a dark elf." Ralof pointed out accusingly, Resh was about to try and explain but he interrupted again. "Now listen here. I don't like being lied to, so you're going to tell me how you know who I am and what you know of the man from Helgen!" The man shouted, viciously grabbing Resh by the leather on his shirt. Resh did not expect to see the normally calm man get that angry so he decided that he might as well tell him the truth, out of the way of all the villagers of course who were now all staring.

"Follow me and I'll show you," Resh replied, trying to pry the man of his clothes. Resh led the obviously angry man behind the houses out of other people's sight and then took the form of the dark elf he was being during the day of the Helgen incident.

"Now do you remember me?" Resh asked, knowing full well that the now shocked man did.

"How did you do that? That wasn't any kind of magic I know. What are you?" Ralof stammered, watching as his old ally stood before him changing into some kind of monster. He looked like a large golden snake with arms, and a tail that stretched to 8 feet long alone. The monster standing before him was huge its full length would have been about 15 feet long. It would be easily big enough to kill him if he tried to fight it.

"Unlike you, I am a Tsaesci. I can shape-shift as you've already seen. I'm from another continent and my kind consists of giant golden snake people, like me," Resh left out the part about his kind wishing to devour all the mortals for obvious reasons. "Any questions?" After the scared man stood in silence Resh went on, "I thought not. So what was it you were going to tell me about the Stormcloaks?"

**I know it might seem weird how Ralof barely knows Resh and gets a bit uptight about a Nord trying to impersonate him but in Skyrim it seems to be that Nords make friends very quickly, in the game I was given the option to marry this one guy after I beat him up in a brawl… and of course leave a review if you can.**


	4. A Snake And The Savages

**Hey people I've been told that I've been misleading you on how to pronounce Tsaesci apparently it's pronounced "Sayessie", although I've seen no proof of this in Lore, in my head ill still think of it as "Sayski" so you can decide which you think is better. This chapter is going to lead onto something good next chapters, which introduces Resh's character and emotions and stuff.**

To Resh, Skyrim was like a whole new world. So different from anywhere else he'd been before, such as Akavir or Morrowind. And not just because of the snow, which he had previously shown his disdain towards, but because of the sheer amount of bandits everywhere. Of course there were some bandits in Morrowind but never this many. Every time Resh had tried to use the roads, there they were. At least they had the common decency to let him revert to his full form before ripping them to shreds. As long as he'd basked in the sun long enough they would never really bother him that much. Except for that one bandit who had seemed insistent on using ice magic, much to Resh's annoyance.

Just that one use of ice magic had put him almost out of action for days. Every time Resh tried to move an arm or flex his tail he could hear the frozen folds of fat and layers of muscle stiffen and crack. Resh couldn't travel in this state. He needed a place to rest or at the very least slow down his pace. But after arriving at Riverwood, he had promised Ralof that he would warn Whiterun of the dragon attacks, so he had to keep moving. Of course he had to spend a good hour trying to calm the man down, as he seemed scared to find out his newest ally was a giant snake. Also Ralof had seemed to know a fair bit about his kind and made Resh promise that he wouldn't go around eating humans. He wondered if humouring his newest friend was really worth it, but he had promised and a Tsaesci doesn't break a promise.

Resh wondered why he had even agreed to help the Nord. They weren't the same species and he hardly considered the man a friend. The only significance he had over anyone else was that Resh had decided not to consider him as food. And yet here he was, accepting tasks from people he barely knew. He hoped he wasn't softening up and that this wouldn't become a regular occurrence.

Resh cursed himself but he couldn't keep going at this rate. His muscles had tensed up and he could barely take another slither. His one chance would be to find a sheltered place to rest and take the form of a Nord so random passers-by didn't try to bludgeon him in his sleep.

A bandit camp suddenly came into view. It looked like two large towers connecting over a stream by a long bridge. He could see some of the residents taking watch from the bridge.

'_I guess I can join the bandits until I recover. From what I've seen, they are not without honour most know how to draw a sword, some can even harness the elements,'_ Resh considered.

Resh approached the door of the tower in his Nordic form, not wanting to get in an unnecessary and, in his current state, dangerous fight. Hobbling like an old man because of his injuries obviously didn't make him seem very much of a threat to the camp because they sent only one young bandit to see what he wanted. Or to mug him. He didn't really think this plan through but he was too far in to turn back now.

"What do you want? I'd suggest you turn around now if you want to keep your head attached to your neck," the bandit called out from in front of the tower gates.

"I seek refuge. I seek to join your group," Resh called back at the man.

"Turn around, milk-drinker, if you want to keep your coin. You're too injured to join us, and you can barely stand as it is," the young bandit insulted. At that Resh sent a burst of lightning in the boy's direction leaving a blacked scorch mark on the wall next to him. If it had hit, it would have melted through him and his armour leaving a bloody hole, the boy caught his drift that he wasn't going anywhere and ran off to find his superior.

"Come in, come in. Ymsigr has never been known to turn a good man down. I'm sure you will be a great addition for our 'innocent' little band. After seeing what you can do with magic I'm sure anyone sane would fear you so it would be great to have you on our side, just don't go casting a flame with us around," The chief stated.

"Are you okay? You look in a bad way. Want a drink of mead? We took this great stuff from the last travellers coming down this road. We also managed to get a lot of food, most of it good quality meat. Do you want some? We have enough to go around," Ymsigr asked. This chief seemed like a nice man. Judging by the two handed greatsword on his back, Resh could tell he was a strong warrior too, making Resh like him even more.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm going to decline for now. Maybe tomorrow," Resh replied. He'd eaten a few days ago. He wouldn't be hungry and wanting to eat for a good week or so. And as for mead, he doubted anyone in the camp would want to see a drunken Tsaesci. That would be very dangerous, especially seeing as he would probably revert to his normal form.

"Obviously I'm not going to take you on raids seeing as you're new. But as you seem fairly competent with magic you can be on guard duty. Mostly you will just be stopping other bandits and soldiers who will try and shut us down. You will also get a small share of the gold we make" Ymsigr explained.

"I'll go through with that, on one condition though. I want a bed on the roof; I like to get the morning sun." Not only did Resh like the morning sun but he needed it. Otherwise he'd die of cold, but the bandit chief didn't need to know that.

**I decided to go with bandits instead of mercs because the common population (2 people beating 1) said they would prefer bandits, and I am here to please the people, plus I couldn't think of a way to introduce mercs. Leave a review at the bottom and as usual message me if there's a problem.**


	5. The Snake With Honour

**I know every time I update I say that it is late, it's because every time I write I have another distraction, this time its late because of snow. Here's the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy, also any new readers or current readers please leave a review if you did it would mean a lot, we're about a chapter or two away from Lydia, although it's going to be a while before it starts to get 'M' rated so don't be expecting them to have sparks straight away, it will be the opposite of that. Finally this chapter includes light rape so if that bothers you I suggest skipping to my next chapter.**

It didn't take long before Resh had healed from his injuries. It had been only two days after he'd joined these bandits. His frozen muscles had healed and now he would have to leave them to go to Whiterun. He was actually going to miss his newly found companions, despite the fact that some of them used shields. If you don't want to get hit, move out of the way. You don't need a shield for that.

Although he was stuck with guard duty whenever they all went off on a raid, he didn't mind much, as Resh was not in the right shape to fight properly. As well as this, he was new. So why should he be expected to go? If Resh could, he would stay, but now that he could fight properly he still had things he had promised to see to and couldn't waste his time.

During his time with the bandits, Resh, although having not left the towers, had fought enough to sate his blood-lust. On the first day, nothing actually happened. But on the second, a small group of bandits had stumbled past the towers and thought that a lone guard would be easy to slay and they could take the towers for themselves.

To make a long story short they were wrong. If it had not been for the vantage point of the tower he may have had a small amount of trouble fighting the group, but that was not the case. After he had struck the first two bandits with bursts of flame, killing the lightly armoured Nord instantly and severely injuring the more heavily dressed one, the rest of the group decided it wasn't worth going through the trouble of trying to climb the tower steps if they were only going to be burnt to death.

After ramming his foot down on the injured man's neck killing him, Resh wondered what to do with the two bodies on floor. He couldn't eat them as he had promised Ralof he wouldn't devour humans. He considered mounting their heads as trophies but none of the other tenants of the tower had done that with their kills so they might find it weird to find their home gilded with skulls and body parts. In the end Resh just decided to leave them by the tower door as a warning to other bandits and wait for someone else in his group to deal with them while he went off to Whiterun.

Packing up the few possessions he had, the clothes on his back and the sword the bandits had given him, Resh left the towers. When Ymsigr and the other bandits got back they would understand why he left. After all he had said he would be going once his leg healed up.

Resh was going to feel bad for leaving the bandits without a goodbye. He had shared a feasting hall with them. He had shared stories and had, unbelievably, laughed with them. He actually considered them as friends, unlike Ralof who he thought of more as an ally.

Walking down the road with his meagre possessions, Resh thought about humans. He couldn't believe it, but it seemed that everything he had been previously told about them was a lie. They always seemed to fight with honour and a reasonable amount of skill. He had learned from the bandits when feasting that even when not fighting humans could be entertaining to be around.

Ymsigr and the other bandits were on their way back from, an unsuccessful ambush on a group of people that happened to be adventurers. They also happened to be following the same road Resh was, just in the opposite direction.

"Resh, is that you? What are you doing down this road?" Ymsigr enquired when he saw the strange Nord wandering down the road, sword in hand.

"My leg healed up so I'm off to Whiterun. I told you I was going to leave when I next got the chance," Resh replied.

"What of the tower? Did you leave it unguarded?" the bandit chief asked with a hint of anger in his tone.

"Yes, but I left two corpses by the doors to ward off other bandits," Resh said, "On another note, why do you and the others look so battered up? It even seems that some of you are missing," Resh asked,, only now noticing the state the band of cutthroats was in.

"We accidently attacked a group of adventurers. It's not that important, though. So anyway, if you're off to Whiterun we should tag along with you. We didn't get anything of value on our failed ambush and there are plenty of farms near Whiterun to raid. Consider your first raid as a goodbye present from me," Ymsigr laughed heartily.

And off the band went to Whiterun. Or to the farms at least, to loot and cause bloodshed. Resh smiled in anticipation at a good battle. The farm they attacked was very poorly guarded. It had only two abled bodied warriors trying to protect it and an unarmed woman who screamed at the sight of them and ran inside. The people guarding the farm were not very skilled fighters and were cut down before even having a chance to swing their swords. Resh thought that this raid was a huge let down compared to his expectations. He thought he would at least have used his magic as a second form of weapon, but that was not the case.

He was about to tell the others of his disappointment as they were picking through the pockets of the dead fighters, but he noticed that Ymsigr was missing from the group. Perhaps he was inside looting.

A muffled scream coming from the house was almost an answer to his question in his head. Ymsigr must have gone into the farm itself in search of valuables and scared the woman they met earlier whilst going in. Resh went in to join him but after walking through the door, things were very different than what he imagined was going on in here.

The woman that had run inside was being pinned to the wall by the bandit. It was clear what was about to happen because of all of the torn clothing scattered on the floor. But the thing that didn't make sense was that if she clearly didn't want it to happen, why was he continuing and forcing her against her will. From what he knew, that sort of thing never happened.

"What are you doing?" Resh asked with suspicion and anger growing in his voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I almost forgot you were leaving us. Did you want to go first? It's the least I can do," Ymsigr asked looking up as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening at all.

"What in Oblivion are you doing!? Can you not see she is unwilling and unarmed!?" Resh shouted at the man he had considered an equal, knowing now that this beast couldn't even be compared to someone like him.

"What did you think us bandits did? We don't go around helping everyone we see," the chief stated, almost in a condescending way as if talking to a newly hatched infant. "You're not going to cause me any trouble are you?" he asked as if not expecting an answer.

"Well I can't let you do this to a harmless innocent. So it's either you stop, or I cut you down," Resh spat, hissing more often than usual as he said those words.

Throwing the woman off him into the corner and pulling his sword off the back of his armour (which he was still wearing) the bandit lunged at him, swinging the great-sword with both his hands towards his challengers face.

Dodging the blade easily, leaving it wedged in the wall, Resh took this time to change into his Tsaesci form so he could take more pleasure from ripping this savage's skull from his spine after having burned him with the flame he had now conjured. Suddenly the world went silent for a few seconds as if in shock at what had just happened. And then the screaming started again, louder this time, as if the woman was in fear of being killed by the very man that saved her.

"I knew there was something off about you, no true Nord would use that heathen power you wield. Fight me with a sword like a man, or a monster or whatever you the hell are," Ymsigr challenged after recovering from his initial shock.

"I'm not a monster, I'm a Tsaesci but a lesser creature like you wouldn't under-" Resh was halfway through explaining when the blade of this dishonourable creature ran deeply through his chest with no warning.

The wound was deep and the blade stung but the injury was not as incapacitating as the bandit would have hoped. When he tried to push in, the huge snake used his one handed sword to push the strength of both the savages' arms behind that great-sword away. He used his bare hand to lift the large man up by the throat and hold him up. After a swift snapping sound when the snake squeezed his wrist, the bandit was dead.

After the large man, still quite short to him, fell to the ground heavily Resh went to over to the hysterical woman, offering a hand to help her up. But she just looked up at him and cried and screamed louder. This is the respect he gets for saving someone? This species was nothing more than animals that knew how to live a bit longer than the others. Animals that don't deserve a shred of mercy.

An outcast to those he helped and a monster to those he killed, Resh walked off back in his Nordic body again, bandit blood dripping off his blade and his own blood carved along his chest. His hatred in humanity renewed as he cut a path through the rest of the weaker bandits with ease.

**Thanks for reading everyone, and as I said I would really love it if you all left reviews and PM'd me. Also I'm only going to feature the main questline in this but I might do a small feature on the Companions, nothing serious just something I had in mind. Also I forgot to say this at the start but the Tsaesci picture I am using for this Fanfic is drawn by someone whose deviantART account is called 'JonothanQChumpington'. Finally (curse my long footnotes) the whole thing about the bandits losing to adventurers at the start is a reference to particularly good mod that can add travellers and adventurer bands to roam the roads only to fight you and bandits, PM me for details**

**So long friends till next time**


	6. Two Reptiles

**Hey guys, I'm guessing probably one or two of you skipped the previous chapter because of my warning, so long story short (un crude of course): Resh leaves to go to Whiterun; he meets Ymsigr and the other bandits on the way; he agrees to go on a raid with them on the way; Ymsigr does something bad on the raid; Resh slaughters him and the other bandits and obtains a long scar on his chest; and finally Reshs hatred of humans is renewed and he's now spiteful to them again.**

He had reached Whiterun now. He didn't know why he continued on with this god-forsaken quest for these animalistic creatures that could be so hateful towards their own kind. It sickened him that he was around these dishonourable animals for so long and hadn't realised that he should have killed them on sight. Above all of this, when he had actually saved the female human from that monster masquerading as a person she had screamed at him and cowered in fear from the very one who had saved her.

If his race were not sworn to honour promises he would have turned back long ago and returned to his homeland to tell his people of sentient filth that needed to be cleansed. And even if he couldn't do so right now, after his mission in Whiterun was finished he would carve a path through the empire and back to Akavir, bleeding out all who tried to stop him.

At the gates he was addressed by the Nordic savages wrapped in fur that call themselves guards. Resh didn't even offer them the dignity of a reply. Their lesser kind doesn't deserve respect from the likes of him. He almost felt compelled to kill them there and then out of sheer hatred but he held himself back for now. He had things to do.

When walking up the pathways in this town of humans, all the citizens seemed insistent on talking to him, and commenting that he looked like a fighter. He didn't care what they thought. If he wasn't injured he would have killed them for trying to judge one of such a higher kind than them.

Resh just ignored all the humans he passed on his way and walked up the steps to Dragonsreach. Humans are so feeble-minded, why would they name their strongholds after the very creatures that used to wipe out their kind. _'I guess it's just another sign of human weakness,' _he thought. His kind feasted on dragons. They would never name something of importance in honour of the prey they devour.

However much Resh hated to admit it, the main hall itself was magnificent. It was filled with banners and tables with a large fire-pit in the middle and the skull of a dragon at the end of the hall. _'I guess that's why they call it Dragonsreach.' E_ven though the hall was nice, it didn't compare to some of the buildings in Akavir. Comparing height and structure would be like comparing an anthill to a mountain. The skulls were a change to the decorations seen in Akavir though. All the parts of a dragon in his land were either eaten (even the organs and bones) or fashioned into armour.

Sitting underneath the dragon skull, in a large decorated chair, was who appeared to be the Jarl of the town. The seat itself was on an elevated platform making the Jarl seem higher up than he actually was. _"Typical humans, trying to appear important when they are little more than sentient apes, like the equally savage Tang Mo from my own continent."_

Resh tried to explain his story to the Jarl as quick as possible so he wouldn't have to suffer through much time being around him and his kind. But he just kept asking more questions. He seemed so interested, even though Resh was trying to explain his story in the shortest way possible.

Just as Resh finally thought that this was all over and he could at last leave this cesspit of Nordic scum, a man in guard's armour ran into the hall shouting out, "There's a dragon attacking the western watchtower! We're going to need some serious guard reinforcement if we are to kill that thing."

Murmurs echoed throughout the hall at the mention of a dragon attack so close by. Many people, up until then, had thought that dragons were creatures of myth. The Jarl quickly assembled who he said were some of the finest guards in Whiterun into a soldier troop to go off to the tower. _"Like the finest humans could kill a beast like a dragon," _thought Resh. He was about to offer to go himself. There was no way he was going to miss a chance at killing an actual dragon, even if he did have to go with humans. But the Jarl beat him to it and said that as he knew the most of dragons, he had to go. Although Resh resented taking orders from a human, he wasn't going to argue if he was going to be able to kill a dragon.

When the group arrived at the tower there was no dragon to be seen. There were signs of the dragon's attack, as shown by the charred corpses on the ground and the flames burning on the debris. But the dragon itself had left. It would appear he had walked all this way over here for nothing. Just as he had been thinking that he heard a loud roar from the distance as a dark, huge winged silhouette came from behind a mountain and blocked out part of the sun.

The dragon was extremely quick, darting over to the tower in mere seconds releasing a jet of flame, killing two of the warriors already, and then turning around again so it could prepare to release another deadly scream of fire. This time Resh jumped to the side avoiding the fire and launched his own magical projectiles up at the creature as it swooped down, although the beast was not in the right position for him to hit it properly. He had no time to aim. And it was so quick; his lighting based magic missed its target by a longshot.

The dragon wasn't landing for him to use his sword and there was no way Resh would have been able to hit it with magic from the ground. He wouldn't be accurate enough to hit it directly with magic and he didn't have a bow on him that could fire quickly. His only shot at doing any real damage to the beast would be from higher ground. Running up the steps of the battered watchtower, ducking to avoid small flame reaching through cracks in the walls, Resh made it to the top of the watch tower and began his hail of magical projectiles.

The flying beast, who must have thought it was winning this battle as the Nordic 'warriors' went and hid behind rocks, obviously wasn't expecting the elemental assault coming from his side. Resh fired burst after burst of lightning and fire at the creatures' wings. The attack was becoming too much for the creature to bear and it was forced to land in front of the watchtower, just in time for Resh to run out of magica. This landing put it in a perfect position for the weak humans, who had previously been hiding, to take their opportunity and attack the beast from all angles with their swords and close range weapons.

Resh couldn't allow these pitiful creatures that had hid from the creature most of the battle to slay the first dragon that had been seen in centuries when it was he who had done most of the work. Knowing that the creature would most likely be dead by the time he ran down the stairs, Resh did the one thing he could think of. He dove off the edge of the tower towards the dragon. He knew he would sustain injuries from the fall but it would be worth it to earn the title of 'Dragon-slayer'.

Driving down with all of his strength and momentum from the fall, Resh buried the blade of his sword into the top of the dragons' skull, causing it to roar out in agony. Resh hadn't had any personal skill in killing dragons but he didn't think that the fight was over yet. So he wrenched the blade out of creature's head causing a slightly quieter roar and buried it in the same cut again trying to cause some more damage. The humans watched in awe as the man drove the sword into the creature head three more times before it finally fell.

As the adrenaline left his body now that the fight was over Resh realised what he had done. He had actually killed a dragon. He was a dragon-slayer. He would be a hero among his kind, although the dragon is prey, he had still killed the most powerful prey that existed for him to hunt; even his own kind had some respect for the extinct until now species. Only now though did he notice the burn marks on him from stray flames that he had passed and the severely injured (possibly even broken) shins he had received from jumping of a tower.

Gritting his teeth in pain Resh rolled off the side of the dragon onto the ground before him, gasping at the impact of the fall Resh turned to see what his efforts had produced. The dragon's head (or at least what left of it) had huge deep gashes carved into the top of it from where his sword had struck, causing blood to seep out of its head over it face. The creature's skin on its face had been flayed from when he had slashed at it over and over with his blade.

Just as Resh was going to turn away and attempt standing to see if his legs still worked, the beast he had just slain started to peel away and smoulder. Its skin looked like it was burning as it came free from its bones leaving the dragons skeleton bare. The weirdest part was that the fire seemed to be of more than one colour and it seemed to burst out of the dragons' body and travel into his. It was a disturbing yet somehow peaceful feeling, like he was resting but had warm water that wasn't there seep into him, making him feel whole.

The Nords, who had tried to help him fight that monster but in reality had not helped at all, seemed as shocked as he was at this odd spectacle. They pointed at him when he was on the ground and whispered to each other. He couldn't catch all of what they were saying until the leader of them walked over to him and told him exactly what had happened.

Apparently Resh, after killing the dragon had absorbed it soul. In Nordic legends there was said to be a hero with this ability who had the soul of a dragon. The guard leader told him that this hero was called a Dragonborn, or Dovahkiin, and when the dragons returned from extinction another Dragonborn would be around to fight them. And that he, a species whose kind hated and devoured dragons, was the Dovahkiin. A man born with the soul of a dragon.

After hearing this Resh knew it had to be true. He hated himself for what he was. His kind would kill him if they found out. They would probably devour him too, there was no way they would let someone with the soul of their prey into their society. Resh screamed in what the humans probably thought was pain but was in fact in rage and punched the dragons' skeleton out of anger causing part of the rib he hit to fracture and his own thumb to break. He screamed again this time in pain as he tried to stand up to run from this damned tower. That last outburst of agony pushed him over the edge and his injuries took their toll and he passed out, too weak to stay conscious any longer.

Resh awoke to even more pain as these insufferable humans dragged his body up the steps of Dragonsreach his legs smacking against each step. The worst part was he was too weak and injured to walk on his own, let alone push these pathetic creatures off him. So he had to just lay lifeless and allow these humans to drag him along like a captured deer while he tried to calm himself down.

Resh had recovered from his initial anger and hatred of himself when he first found out he was a dragon inside. But being less angry didn't make him any more accepting of his curse. Right now Resh would have done anything to remove it. But he doubted there was anything he could do so he just tried to build up his energy as much as possible so he could talk when he entered the hall. The moment he entered the Jarl started to speak.

"Thank you for slaying that dragon. Is it true what people are saying, that you're the Dragonborn? That you're born with the soul of a dragon?" Jarl Balgruff remarked as his new champion was dragged in by two of his guards because of his injuries, much to his displeasure.

"If death would take away this curse, I would take my own life a thousand times to rid myself of it," Resh bit, with spite and hate coming off every word.

"Yes… well it's an honour to have you as our thane of Whiterun," stuttered the Jarl awkwardly at the man's pessimistic response to what should be considered a gift, "I think it's time you should meet your new houscarl. Lydia has sworn her life to you and will follow you _everywhere_ you go."

"_Just what I need, a human following me,"_ Resh thought sarcastically.

**I should be releasing more chapters more often because the snows gone and I now have no more distractions (for now) so I'll be writing a lot more often. As usual please favourite, follow and review if you liked, it would mean a lot. Also feel free to PM me if there is anything wrong or if you have any question to ask me. Also you may have noticed I changed my name, it's because of several awkward moments concerning people typing my name into Google and one of the stories I've posted.**


	7. Unwanted Help

**First chapter with Lydia (Yay). Nothing is going to get sexy at the moment, that won't be for a while. Hope you enjoy. (Wow that was a short author's note)**

"_The new thane is very attractive,"_ Lydia thought _"I don't know if it's that ever angry, smouldering look he always has or the new position of power he has or maybe even the sheer fact he's a large muscular Nord, but I hope I don't get distracted when serving under him and can manage to get some work done."_

He didn't like it here, surrounded by humans. The Jarl's mage was trying to heal Resh's legs using a combination of magic, and wine covered wraps to soak up and heal the wound .He had several onlookers, including the Jarl himself and the fully armoured woman who had been sworn to his service and who kept staring at him.

For the most part, the healing process was working and his broken shins were healing up. But even after the procedure he wasn't in fighting condition. When Resh tried to make a quick exit, he managed to walk a few steps before a biting pain coursed through his lower legs and he crumpled onto the floor, looking weak in front of the lesser beings who had all seen his failed attempt at walking. There was nothing more damaging for his pride than appearing helpless and unable to survive by himself in front of the very people he considered weak.

The Nord, who Resh believed was his appointed housecarl, darted over to him when he collapsed to check if he was okay and to help him stand, much to his annoyance.

"Get off me, Nord," Resh commanded as he pushed the woman off him, causing him to fall again, cursing the healer's failure at fixing his legs. _"A Tsaesci healer would have been able to fix his shins completely, and in half the time it took this human." _

"I'm sworn to carry your burdens. And if you are your own burden then I am sworn to carry you, as you clearly don't seem to be able to carry yourself." Lydia hadn't meant to cause offence with what she said but it seemed her thane had taken offence judging by the scowl he had given her.

The woman's logic with flawless but he still felt a pang of shame at the fact that he had to rely on the help of a weak Nord to be able to walk. So he grudgingly wrapped his arm around the woman's shoulders and rested his weight on her whilst limping out of the building.

"Where to then?" Lydia asked somewhat rhetorically as she was directing him towards 'The Bannered Mare' assuming that her thane would want to go to an inn to rest until fully recovered.

"Away from this cesspit of a city," the newest thane of this city replied. Lydia masked her offence at the man's hateful words towards her home town and continued to half drag the large man towards the inn.

"I mean this as no insult my thane but you should really rethink your plans. You're not in the condition to travel at the moment," Lydia informed him, knowing that the man could be easily insulted as shown earlier when she first offered to help him.

"I don't need your help; I can get by perfectly on my own. I don't need help from you, or any other Nord," Resh replied pushing the woman off him and taking two staggering, but successful steps, "Leave me be and go home. I don't need you here to look after me like a child," Resh grunted in pain as he crashed into the ground again after taking another step, cursing as he was unable to pull himself back up.

"I'm sorry but I can't do that. I am sworn to be your housecarl and protect you. I have no choice but to follow you wherever you go," Lydia said helping her thane off the ground for the third time in the last hour.

"Fine!" Resh snapped, causing the battle hardened woman to almost jump at the viciousness in his voice, "I'll stay here a few days. But once I heal, I'm going. Preferably without you following. When I do leave, if you manage to keep up with me, don't try to talk with me. If you don't, don't expect me to wait for you."

She wasn't sure why but her thane's spiteful words and the fact that he didn't care about her, instead of making her hate him, actually made her infatuation over him stronger. She knew it probably wasn't the best thing to be turned on by guys who treated her like dirt but she couldn't help it. She didn't let her feelings show and just kept on her usual cold as stone emotionless face.

The next few days dragged on slowly as she had to look after bedridden Dragonborn and bring him in food that he never seemed to eat. The worst part was it turned out her thane, Resh, had no money with him so she had to pay for the room and the food with her own septims.

Luckily for her Resh didn't ask for much, as he thought of asking for help as a sign of weakness. The only thing he did when he was recovering was drag himself out of his room every so often and sit in front of the fire in the centre of the inn for a few hours.

After only one day here she could see that Resh didn't like being cooped up in his room all day, as he started to get irritable and would snap at her whenever she tried to talk to him. Although this wasn't much different from when she had first met him. _"Perhaps when he gets out into the open and leaves the city he will be like a different person."_ It would make sense that he doesn't like cities considering the comment he made on Whiterun before.

She also noticed that Resh didn't seem to sleep very much. And when he did it wasn't in his bed like a normal person (so spending money on two separate rooms was pointless). But he would sleep near the fire, so close that it should have burned a Nord like him. He only slept for about an hour or two and then spent the rest of the day wide awake conjuring flames in his hands and then extinguishing them to pass the time, much to the innkeepers' displeasure.

Lydia unlike most Nords had always wanted to know how to use magic. It had seemed like such a practical skill, not just for fighting but to stay interested when you're not doing anything. Much as Resh was doing now, casting little magical globes and hitting them away with his hand as if tangible when they floated near.

It was getting quite late now so Lydia got into her own bed to sleep, wondering how her thane could spend the whole night filling his room with wisps of glowing magic and not want to sleep.

They were now on their third day in this inn and Resh's leg seemed to be better as he could now walk around by himself without wincing all the time. It was just as well he was ready to leave, as Lydia was starting to run out of coins to pay for their stay.

Lydia could see Resh stand up now and walk towards the door about to leave without her. But before he left, he paused at the door, turned around and looked at the woman who had taken time out of her own life to look after him, even though he didn't want to be looked after.

"I'm going now, Nord," he told her, and then he left. She would have followed him even if he had gone without telling her. But she swelled with pride at the fact that he decided to tell her before he left the building. She knew it wasn't much but after being around this man for a few days, she felt she needed to learn how to get by on little victories like this.

She ran ahead to catch up with him as he strode out of the city pacing quickly. He didn't even turn when she started to walk alongside him.

"Why do you call me 'Nord'?" Lydia asked.

"What?"

"You are a Nord yourself so why do you call me 'Nord'?" she asked again. If he had heard he chose not to listen as he continued to walk on without turning to face her.

"Just call me Lydia from now on," She said ignoring the strangeness of the Dragonborn's lack of response. Resh just continued not to listen and carried on walking into the night, regretting alerting the woman of his departing.

**I hope you enjoyed the first Lydia chapter, as I said at the start I wouldn't start expecting there to be sex straight away, I'm probably about 15 chapters away maybe more. Please favourite, follow and review as usual. Also I am welcome to answer any questions you may have or listen to any criticism so PM me for that as your advice matters and can help me improve.**


	8. Sleeping Arrangements

**I hoped you all like how I introduced Lydia into plot with the whole dragon injuries from falling etc. As I previously said nothing's going to happen for a while (Yet) so don't get your hopes up. Anyway here's another chapter, I hope you enjoy.**

They had been walking for hours into the night and Lydia was exhausted. Yet Resh just seemed to be able to keep walking on and on without sleep. Lydia was starting to wonder if it was his magic keeping him awake but she doubted that even magic could power a whole person relentlessly.

"Can we please stop to sleep?" Lydia asked breaking the long silence between the two of them. She knew that her thane didn't take well to signs of weakness and that she wasn't meant to be the person to ask for things. But she couldn't keep going on like this. She needed some form of rest or she would collapse.

Resh stared, contemplating if he should just keep on going and leave without her because she was starting to slow him down. He already had to carry the supplies. In the end he decided it would probably be easier for him to find safe places to sleep if he had someone to guard him when basking in the sun.

"I'll take first watch," Resh told her, clearly not liking the idea of having to stop for sleep every night.

"We're in a fairly safe area. You really don't need to stay up to watch."

"No. Now sleep. I'll wake you when we should swap roles," It wasn't open for argument. He chucked the bedroll he had been carrying roughly onto the floor and turned his back to start his watch for anyone who might try and attack them.

It might have sounded rather petty. But Lydia couldn't help but notice that her thane had no inclination to look at her when she was pulling off her armour to sleep. She wasn't naked but she still felt rather self-conscious at the fact that Resh didn't seem to care at all about the fact that there was a woman stripping behind him. Instead of trying to look, like even the most honourable men would do, he just kept his back turned and stared off into the distance.

'_Perhaps he rides his horse on the other side of the path,'_ she wondered, thinking of the only reason that he wassn't the least bit interested in her.

It wasn't something that Lydia wanted to dwell on though, and she tried to get to sleep in the bedroll that she had now laid out. Usually a sleeping arrangement based on swapping turns for taking watch meant only having one hours sleep every two. But when Lydia was woken up by her thane kicking her, the sun was raining down hard on the two of them, hot enough to burn skin. He probably meant to kick her lightly to jolt her, but it still hurt.

Lydia pulled herself out of the bedroll, leaving it open on the ground for use. But instead of taking it, he just rolled it back up so it could be carried again.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" she asked, gesturing to the bag he was packing.

"No. I will. I just don't need to be coddled in my sleep by a bag made of fur," he said, almost aggressively, "Take watch now. I'll only be asleep for a few hours,"

Suddenly, with no warning, whilst she was still watching , he pulled off all of his clothes. Not just his armour, but everything, leaving him completely bare obviously not caring who saw. And then he lay down on the ground with his arms and legs spread out as if he wanted to get burnt by the morning sun. Lydia quickly averted her eyes, blushing uncontrollably at what her thane had just done. She was meant to be a battle hardened warrior and now she was reduced to a lusty teenager. She reminded herself that she had to remain professional and had to wait for these feelings to pass.

She tried to keep watch, but she was very distracted by what had just happened. Furthermore, every so often he would roll in his sleep onto his back displaying _everything_, and she couldn't help but peek and see what the dragonborn was like under his armor She was not disappointed. He was definitely a fighter, as he had ridiculously well-toned chest with a large scar stretching across it, and unknown from beneath his armor his arms and shoulders were extremely muscular. Probably why he could carry all the supplies she struggled with without breaking a sweat. Finally, she knew she shouldn't have looked at all of him, but let's just say he had a second sword big enough to slay a dragon with. If this was how each night was going to be, getting a ton of uninterrupted sleep and having the dragonborn strip naked, she didn't mind one bit.

**Hoped you liked, in my story Lydia is going to be a bit lusty after the oblivious Resh, almost up to the point it gets humorous. Of course she won't make a move because he's her thane, so she hopes he will (this will go well). Also I know this was a short chapter but I promise the next one will be longer. Also please can anyone who liked it review, I would really appreciate it.**


	9. A Scaly Past

**Here's a new chapter. Tell me if you preferred Resh's point of view or Lydia's in the reviews, I'll try and mix it up a bit but I'll do more of one character POV according to the majority decision by you guys. I prefer writing as Resh, I'll still try and mix it up though.**

Resh awoke after a surprisingly good sleep to the sight of his newfound follower reading when she was taking watch.

"_How could I possibly have slept so well when I had this Nord guarding me so poorly? If people had attacked in my sleep I would be so unprepared they would most likely kill us before she had a time to alert me."_

"_Just another sign of human inferiority,"_ Resh thought, regretting his decision to allow this Nord to follow him. She was only holding him back. But he knew that even if he tried to leave her, she would only follow as she is sworn to never leave his side.

This woman was meant to be watching over him. Yet she didn't even notice him stand up and start packing the supplies until he pulled on some of his armour and the metal plates clanked against each other.

She turned to look at him but instantly snapped her head back around, seeing he was not fully clothed. Resh wondered why she had averted her gaze, but thought no more of it, donning the rest of his armour.

"Gather my stuff, we're going now," Resh stated, striding off, obviously not waiting for her.

"May I ask where we're going?" Lydia replied, packing up the supplies quickly and running to catch up with him.

"After killing that dragon whilst returning to Dragonsreach," Resh conveniently left out the shameful part of being dragged there as he was too weak, "I thought I heard shouting in my ears, I didn't know who it was but I heard where it came from, it was all the way from the mountains."

"If it came from the mountains it could be the Greybeards. They have a monastery near the top of the tallest mountain," his follower told him.

Instead of replying Resh just carried on walking in silence. But this time faster, as he had a place to go to. He wondered if he had been rude to his companion by not replying to her but then disregarded his thought in shock. He'd actually thought of this primitive creature's feelings over his own. He mentally slapped himself, knowing he couldn't allow himself to show weakness like that.

The peaceful silence that had gone on for several minutes was disrupted by his companion speaking up. _'Can she not comprehend that I don't want to talk to anyone and actually want to walk in silence?'_

"Why are you called Resh? That's not a Nordic name. In fact I've never heard of anyone called that," she asked.

"It's a family name," Resh replied trying to keep his answer minimal to make sure the conversation stopped.

"What was your family like?"

'_This woman's just going to keep dragging this on'_

"They were strong fighters and they trained me to be as well," Resh replied bluntly.

"That couldn't be all they are to you. What were they actually like? You can open up to me," she informed him, causing him to scowl even more than usual at her annoyingly nurturing comment.

"Why would you even want to know?" Resh asked, sighing with frustration.

"I'm travelling with the Dragonborn. _The_ Dragonborn. Why would I not want to know more about a living legend I have the honour of travelling with?" Every time she said the word 'Dragonborn', Resh cringed with anger and hate.

"Don't ever call me that again," Resh hissed furiously.

"What? Dragonborn? Why? It should be an honour to be the Dragonborn."

At the mention of that word again Resh snapped. As quick as the lightning he could so easily conjure, he grabbed the woman by the throat, lifting her up above him. Resh didn't really know what to do from here. He had never killed a female before. And she hadn't done anything directly to him to earn an execution. She just looked down at him with shock. He wondered if it was the fact that he had reacted so violently or that he was lifting a fully armoured woman with only one arm, something that no normal Nord could do.

"Don't. Ever." He finally spat before throwing the woman on the floor in anger and pacing off, sadly knowing that she would just run up to follow him again.

"So… about your family?" Lydia asked once her breathing restored and she had caught up with him.

"_I must admit, I admire the fact she doesn't quit. No matter how irritating it is."_

"Fine, what do you want to know?" Resh sighed in defeat.

"What are your parents like?"

"They were great hunters and warriors like me, and you mean what _were_ they like?" Resh told her.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"Why?" he asked, genuinely not knowing why she would be sorry for his own loss which barely bothered him.

"Surely it must have been hard for you. Death in a family is always upsetting."

"Not for me. They died fighting so it was an honourable death."

"So you feel nothing, just because they died in combat?"

"I'd prefer them to be alive but it wasn't up to me. I was barely hatch- born, I mean. I can remember their death but I wasn't able to help them. And if I had tried, I would most likely have been killed as well."

"Why were they killed then?"

"We were hunting and at the same time we were being hunted. It's not uncommon where I come from. And then they attacked," Resh explained.

"How did you survive?"

"Me and my sister were unarmed, so they just let us go."

"They just let you go? I'm surprised. Especially about letting your sister go unharmed."

"Why? What did you think would have happened?" Resh asked, oblivious to what Lydia was hinting at. Then he realised. "You people are so barbaric," Resh muttered with spite after remembering his experiences of human behaviour towards innocents after a battle, ending the conversation.

"We should set up camp here. It's getting dark, and I'm getting quite tired." Lydia stated.

"_How often do you need to sleep?" _he thought with annoyance.

**Please as usual review, favourite and follow. I'm thinking of making a prequel in about his time in Morrowind and how he is captured, there will be two Tsaesci's in it including him and his scouting partner; I don't have many ideas so it will be quite short compared to this, and it will be mostly made to link into this Fanfic. So tell me what you think and if I should bother try. **

**Also I've realised that a have skipped out part of the main quest-line by accident, I'm not going to rewrite it but I'll be more careful from now on. You may have noticed I mentioned the Greybeards shout in this chapter because I forgot it in the chapter it should have been in.**


	10. Scratching The Surface

**I hope you guys liked the character building stuff I put in the last chapter (damn is Lydia persistent, and Resh 'sort of' respects persistence). Back to Lydia's point of view for this chapter, I hope you enjoy. Also I edited chapter 8 so that Lydia notices Resh's scar from the bandit chief, I wouldn't suggest going back to check as its only 7 words longer.**

Lydia's morning started much as the morning the day before had; being roughly kicked awake by her Thane and having the wrapped up bedroll thrown at her as Resh started to strip down and lie on the floor.

"Can you please not kick me awake in the mornings?" Lydia quickly asked, looking away from the stripping legend.

Resh merely grunted in reply before lying on the ground, seemingly taking in as much sunlight as possible. And when he started to sleep, Lydia started to _take in_ something else as much she could find possible.

The hours went by really slowly. She had gotten bored of shamefully admiring the Dragonborn and nothing else had happened to keep her interested. Bandits were usually the most common group to attack travellers. But it was quite clear that today they weren't doing so, as it was the morning and the two weren't near any bandit controlled territory.

The morning in Skyrim were always very quiet, the only sounds were from the fluttering of insects and the occasional rustle of leaves. That and, of course, the sounds of Resh hissing viciously in his sleep and thrashing every few minutes. Lydia would have almost found it funny if it were anyone else but this, combined with the fact her Thane was a very angry man, made her genuinely worried.

Resh's eyes suddenly snapped open and in a fraction of a second he was on his feet. Lydia couldn't believe that her Thane was the sort to have night terrors but all these signs pointed to it.

"Someone seems awake," Lydia smirked. "I think you may have had a bad dream," she soft heartedly mocked.

"Yeah, sure," Resh lied, not really caring about how weak it made him appear. It was easier than explaining the truth, which was that Resh's skin was constricting him and he needed to shed it sooner rather than later. Worst of all, being in human form wasn't going to relieve any of the pain, only make it worse. But Lydia didn't need to know that.

"If we start going now, we can get to a local village called Ivarstead in less than an hour," Resh told her, grabbing the supplies and walking off with his usual angry tone.

"You are aware you're still naked?" Lydia pointed out looking away from the fully nude man. Resh sighed pulling on his armour. Lydia noticed he seemingly shuddered in pain when the leather and metal plates rubbed against his skin. _'My Thane is a very odd man,' _she thought.

They had been walking for the better part of half an hour and it became apparent to Lydia that Resh wasn't the type to strike up a conversation. So it was up to her to try and make her travels interesting.

"So… what brings you to Skyrim? I heard you were caught crossing the border, so why did you try?" Lydia asked him trying to pass the time.

"Travels," he replied, keeping it as short as possible, trying not to start a conversation._ 'It's like pulling teeth,'_ Lydia thought.

"Why were you travelling?" she questioned further.

"Can we just walk in silence?" It wasn't really a question so much as a demand. Lydia deflated at her Thanes blunt remark, offended that he would turn down a conversation that quickly.

They just walked the rest of the journey in silence. Or at least what came close to silence considering Resh was now scratching his skin up with his nails.

"Are you okay?" Lydia asked after he growled, alerting her to the fact he was tearing visible deep cuts into his skin.

"I'm fine. Let's just keep going," he told her with the usual bite of anger in his voice.

"You're obviously not fine, otherwise you wouldn't be trying to pull your own skin off."

Resh almost smiled at the words that she used, _'Is it really that obvious?'_

"Believe me, there isn't anything that you or anyone else can do to try and help me. So just carry on going to Ivarstead. I'm going to stay here and I'll be there later," he told her. Lydia highly doubted that Resh would actually meet her there. As far as she knew he had hated having her follow him around the last couple of days. But then again if he had wanted to abandon her he could have easily done it while she was sleeping so she didn't know what to think.

"How do I know that you won't just leave me and go off on your own?" Lydia asked. This remark actually shocked Resh. He started to wonder why he hadn't already done so, because he has had plenty of opportunities he hadn't taken.

"I promise I won't," Resh replied and with that he left half running much to Lydia's confusion. This had been the first Lydia had seen Resh not angry. Instead he seemed pained. And not pained like when his legs had been injured because he was still angry. This time he didn't seem angry at all.

Lydia didn't really have much to do from then on, apart from head on to Ivarstead. Her Thane was already out of sight, so even if she wanted to she probably couldn't catch up with him.

**I hope you all enjoyed and as usual please review, favourite and follow. I wasn't actually going to do the whole skin shedding thing until later on but when I was writing I hit a block and decided I'd do it now.**


	11. A New Skin For A New Life

**I hope you like this chapter; I'm going back to Resh's POV in this one. Please leave reviews, follow and favourite if you enjoyed and want to let me know what you think, anyway… Read on.**

Resh didn't understand why he made a promise to that incessant woman. A promise to him was like a binding contract. So why did he keep making them to humans? It was crazy.

"I was running. She would never have been able to catch me. I could have just left her for good." He spoke out loud, doing anything to distract him from the pain in his skin. Even switching to his real form didn't dull the pain as he had previously thought.

"I ruined the perfect opportunity. I could have left her for good." He wanted to mean the last bit, but he was shocked that he said it with no emotion. Almost as if he didn't actually want to part from the Nord. It was a horrifically disturbing thought for him to actually _want _to be around her. A thought he had to find a way to get rid of.

Taking his mind off the Nordic woman he tried to focus on his current annoyance and not the one he would have to face the next day. Unfortunately, this caused him to register his pain and let out a quick hiss of agony. Something wasn't right. It was normal for a shedding to irritate him. But if it was to the extent where he vocalised his agony, something was going wrong.

The only possible problem there could have been would be an anomaly in his skin, like a growth or piercing. The first thing that came to mind was the scar that savage had given him. _'Maybe that poorly crafted human sword splintered in me,' _Resh wondered.

Resh ran his hands along the base of the scar trying to feel a bump, but no such problem was found. This only left the less desirable of the two options: part of the dragon he killed was lodged in him. After checking his healed shins, which had now become a magnificent golden tail, he cursed out loud upon discovering a shard of the dragon's skull had lodged in him. The worst part was the Jarl's mage had reformed his flesh around it.

"If I had just dismissed him beforehand I wouldn't be in this mess."

Resh was no medic, but he knew he was going to have to remove it himself. After what seemed like hours digging and hissing in torment, he finally managed to pull out that divine-forsaken bony lump. Smiling in triumph he foolishly tried to crush it with his hand like he had done before with previous things of annoyance. But unlike animal or human bones, this was not as brittle. And instead of the shard of bone splintering even smaller, it just tore into his hand drawing another outburst of pain from him.

Even though his latest foe was finally gone, the damage was still done and it left both his hand and his tail ragged. His skin would never peel properly in this state. He knew this was natural but this was the first time he had dealt with a painful shedding on his own. The majority of them had been when he was young and growing and only just starting to fight, so he had his family to help him. And after that he's had only two more during which his scouting partner had helped him.

Resh usually hated the idea of being coddled or even helped. But the shedding was completely different. It was normal, even expected, to have help if things didn't go well. Without it, the damage could be permanent and the time taken to recover from it fatal. He was positive that without his old partner he would have been killed from the head of a barbed arrow that had once gotten stuck in his side. And he was sure that his help in his partner's shedding had also saved her life a few times before. So, to go through this alone was going to be a challenge.

All these thought rushing through his head had almost made him forget his surroundings. _'I could have been anywhere. For all I knew I could have been surrounded and not notice it. All this time around humans is making me let my guard down,' _he thought.

For a second Resh actually started to think about what it would be like for his human if he were to die and not return to her, especially after promising that he would. Then a sudden burst of pain jolted him out of that weak minded train of thought. He couldn't understand why he had even considered her emotions. It's not like they mattered, yet for a fraction of a second he thought they did.

Resh almost dropped to the floor when he felt a painful tightening in his skin where his wounds previously were, causing him to snap. He couldn't take it anymore. Ignoring basic safety Resh rammed his claws deep into the base of his neck, tearing outwards and ripping into his flesh. He let out a roar. A roar so loud, Lydia wasn't the only woman he knew who heard it.

**Ahhh plot development, the second woman mentioned won't come into play for a while, but will have a big part for both this story and another I might write. I hoped you liked the 'shedding lore' I made up about Tsaesci helping each other if in pain. Finally if any of you have any personally experience with snakes can you PM so I can ask you if there's anything I might think is helpful to me.**

**Thanks. Till next time.**


	12. The Problem With Drinking

**I realize I may have made it painfully obvious who the "Other Woman" was but still it's better if you're not left completely in the dark. Anyway I hope you liked the shedding chapter and that you like this one as well. Warning, relatively graphic scenes of a sexual nature ahead.**

It had been only two hours but Lydia was starting to get worried. It was night-time and she had heard horrifying noises from the outside of the inn coming from miles away. It sounded like both a scream and a roar. It could have only been a dragon and her Thane was out there alone.

Lydia couldn't understand why she was so worried, there was no way it could be safe out there. Even so, from what she knew, her Thane was an extremely competent fighter having already killed a dragon. And also exceptionally strong, being able to lift her, fully armoured with only one hand. Above all this though Lydia was still scared. It was probably the mead thinking.

Time went by quite quickly now. Lydia wasn't so worried about her Thane that she would allow herself to become obsessed, and after finding another person in the inn to play drinking games with to pass the time she forgot all about him. Inevitably their game got to that point where her newfound friend was drunkenly trying to hit on her. Although she herself had also drunk her fair share of mead, she still had the sense to turn him down and retire to her room.

Why though? She didn't know. It's not like she had a current lover to be with, nor was she getting any form of non-business related attachment to Resh, much to her dismay. Would it have been so bad for her to have one night of inebriated passion with a stranger and have to worry about consequences later rather than wait for an emotionless man to notice her?

After a few minutes consideration she decided it wouldn't have been, and left her room to find him. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be seen and must have left, sadly. There was, however, another sight to behold. Almost falling through the inn's door, drenched from the rain outside, was Resh. More shocking than the fact that he was completely naked holding a bundle of his clothes and armour ripped to shreds, was that the large scar on his back and all the smaller scars her Thane had previously had up and down his body were gone. Almost as if someone had replaced his skin. Lydia would have laughed at the ridiculousness of her imagination if Resh hadn't fallen to the floor.

"Are you… are you okay? *_Hic*," _Lydia half laughed half asked, stumbling over to him.

"I'm fine, I just need rest. What wrong with your voice?" he asked.

After Lydia slipped whilst trying to help him up she fell onto him, draped over the top of him in an almost provocative position and then bursting out laughing. It was quite obvious to him that she was drunk.

"There's nothing *_hic* _wrong with my voice, I'm completely normal *_hic*,"_ Lydia replied, heavily breathing down onto his face "Do you like me like this?" Lydia whispered suggestively only half-joking. Suddenly Resh realised the position they were in and snapped upwards, causing him to throw her off him and rise unsteadily to his feet.

"We will set off to high Hrothgar in a few hours. I just need to sit down for a while," her Thane told her, moving over to the closest seat and slumping into it almost falling asleep. Every time Lydia tried to engage him in conversation he would either ignore her or wave her away. After a while, Lydia got the hint and decided to stop speaking.

About three hours passed and Lydia glanced at Resh who was now rising to his feet and gathering his pile of ragged armour.

"We're going now," he announced.

'_Does he have no idea what time it was?'_

"Are you *_hic* _crazy? We can't leave now. That would be stupid," Lydia blurted, regretting the words the moment they came tumbling out of her mouth.

"Why not?" Resh snarled raising his voice, anger blurring his vision. He was shocked that a human would answer back to him and insult him in such a way. He did however respect her courage to speak like that to her superior but not enough to alter his fury.

"Because… because I need sleep, I'm _*hic* _sorry," Lydia started to cry, she tried to stop herself but she was too late. It was obviously the alcohol making her cry, but even so she was meant to be a proud warrior. But all her dignity seemed to seep out of her in just a few seconds.

"Fine," he sighed, thinking he may have perhaps been too harsh. "We can stay until tomorrow because I need new armour. Just do whatever you want here." Lydia was going to tell him that because it was night-time. Few people would be awake and no one would want to sell things at this hour. But she was too busy trying to recover her lost pride by wiping her face to have time to tell him. And when she was ready he had already left, leaving her alone in the inn.

Lydia decided it would probably be best to try and get to sleep now, as she was the only person awake in the inn and it was getting quite dull. So she walked over to her new room, took off her clothes and crawled into her bed. She tried desperately to try to sleep but she was too turned on from her fantasies about being on top of her Thane to manage it. _'Has it really been so long since I've been with a man? So much so I can't sleep?'_

Lydia couldn't take it any longer. She needed the sleep but more than that, she needed release. So she did the only thing she could think of and put her hand to good use, using it to rub the sensitive area she had down below that was now wet and throbbing with lust. She thought things would be as easy as when she used to do this kind of thing when she was younger. But at this age, she couldn't get _there _just by rubbing.

Conjuring up what little imagination she had she tried to believe it was Resh's hand strumming her sensitive clit and not her own. And that it was Resh's fingers inside her causing such feelings by pushing in and out and rubbing just the right parts. Lydia was building up to what would have been her first orgasm in months. Her breathing hitched and she arched her back at the feeling she was only a few seconds away.

"My Thane!" she moaned at her release, she would have shouted it out for all of Ivarstead to hear if she hadn't have stifled her mouth with her other hand. Almost immediately, Lydia fell asleep smiling satisfied, juices flowing onto her hand. Normally she would have gone to clean it up but she was too happy to care.

** -Morning-**

"Wake up, we're going now," Resh's ever-friendly welcome to the morning was accompanied by the loud clapping of his hands, setting off a blinding headache. Because of her hangover Lydia's reply was nothing more than a moan of pain at the sound. "We're going," he repeated and yanked the sheets off her bed revealing her naked body, to which he paid no attention, and then started to grab the bundle of her balled up clothes and throw it to her.

"What happened last night?" Lydia asked rubbing her head trying to relieve the pain and then quickly pulling her hand away after remembering that it was covered with sweat and _other_ forms of moisture from yesterday.

"You were drunk and I was nice enough to wait here another night until you recovered." The words sounded like they should have been said in a kind way but his reply had a bite of malice to it, almost like she'd done something to offend him.

"Last night did I do something to insult you?" she asked her mind still fuzzy from the alcohol.

"It doesn't matter. But from now on, tearing up isn't going to get you what you want. I don't like weakness. And if you are weak, then I am too," he told her before leaving.

'_Tearing up? _ _I really shouldn't have drunk so much.'_

It was too late though so she just had to hope she didn't do anything too stupid. Lydia knew that it would not be wise to try to reply to him, so she decided to just get changed and meet him outside.

It would appear that although Resh tried to salvage what he could from his torn bundle of clothes, all he could carry on wearing were his leather gloves and his plated greaves and lower chainmail, all his upper body armour was too destroyed to even wear and his helmet was nowhere to be seen. Lydia had spent so much time staring at Resh that she hadn't noticed that her Thane was staring at her with a look of confusion.

"All your scars are gone," Lydia remarked at Resh's oddly new body, trying to remove the awkward atmosphere, her gaze lingering a bit too long on some parts.

"Obviously," her Thane replied as if it was a completely normal occurrence.

"Why 'obviously'?" she asked. She wasn't really expecting a reply and she got what she usually got: only silence.

**I remember my first time going to High Hrothgar. It was horrible; I got lost and spent about two hours trying to find the way up there, I had to resort to watching a YouTube video (which I hate doing) to find it. It may have been an annoying quest but at least it didn't mentally scar me like the Oblivion "Back to your roots" quest. I hate Nirnroots. **

**Anyway I hope you liked this chapter, that is my first time writing anything sexual so tell me if I did a good job because I wasn't entirely sure when writing it, if it wasn't very good I'll try to avoid sex scenes in future.**


	13. Problems Of The Past

**I hope you enjoy this chapter, so here you go. Drunk Lydia was actually based loosely on me (except I don't want to shag giant naked muscular men) for example, getting emotional and all the '*hic*'ing'. **

**Finally, special thanks to 'LadyDragon1316', my amazing Beta reader, for helping me with my story from the beginning and making it worth reading, and for inspiring and encouraging me to write in the first place, without her it would literally be nothing. **

The walk from the tavern had been a very peaceful one. Resh liked the silence where he could take in the outdoors without interruption, and it was this very kind of silence reminded him why he loved the rest of the world. Or at least the parts untouched by civilisation, even by his own species' developments. Of course though, all things must come to an end, and the end to Resh's happiness was in the form of his always-present follower speaking up.

"Can we not stay a bit longer? My head still hurts," Lydia asked squinting and turning away from the very surroundings Resh was trying his best to take in.

"Stop complaining. I've waited long enough because of such _trivial_ matters," Resh answered with a glare.

At that comment Lydia came from a different approach, "What about you? As long as I've know you I haven't seen you eat once. You must get hungry. You could stay back and eat."

"The next thing we kill, I'll eat." He wasn't hungry but he knew it would be easier to just claim to want something to eat to avoid suspicion.

"But I already have food supplies. Haven't you noticed me eating over the last few days? I even saved some for you to have. It won't be as good as eating in but if you want to keep moving you can have some of that."

Resh was shocked that the woman was actually offering him some of her own provisions. It had been a long time since he had known a human to be so considerate.

He had seen first-hand some of the _other_ things humans offered round. Things that weren't theirs to offer. Just the thought made Resh's mind blur with anger. That wasn't kindness, that, was savagery. This, however, was different. This made him almost think twice about his judgment on her kind. Almost.

"Fine. I'll eat. But we're going to keep moving." Resh took the food that the woman held out to him and just before he was about to start eating, finished with "Thank you." Even though she was of a lesser kind the least, he could do was show some appreciation.

"Do you want something to drink? I think I have some Cyrodilic brandy in my pack somewhere,"

"No. Alcohol causes recklessness and error. I only drink around those who will stop me making decisions I will live to regret."

"Fair enough. By 'those' do you mean friends?" Lydia only really wanted to know if she would be counted as a friend.

Resh let out a saddened sigh, the first sign of emotion other than anger Lydia had seen. "Sadly, most of my friends are far from here and those that I had close are gone now," Resh said, clear depression running through his voice.

"Are they dead?" she asked.

'_Does she ever stop asking me things?'_

"Probably. And even if they were here now, they would hate me for what I am," Resh said, anger rolling back into his voice remembering that he was the Dragonborn.

Instead of asking about why he hated the fact that he was Dragonborn, knowing that it would only flare up his anger, like last time she brought it up, Lydia decided to try prying a bit more into his friends. "How do you know they're even dead?"

"I know for a fact one of them is dead. I saw watched him die in front of me," Resh replied, speaking with no more emotion than if he were describing the weather. "He managed to cut down five soldiers before he fell, and I slew his killer," he continued as if that made his death not matter.

"And as for Kayci, I don't know what happened to _her_, -" Lydia's face dropped at the word 'her'. No wonder he had no interest in herself. "-she probably died in the haze of combat. An unmarked grave is always a bad way to go." All of this however, unlike his male friend, Resh was sad about. And because of this, Lydia's assumptions about the two of them were cemented.

She had to stuff down her rivalling emotions though and continue on, "Do you want to try to find her? We could bury her." As selfish as it was, Lydia didn't really want to do this because it was the right thing to do. But because she thought that if he did this he would get over her and might be more open to the two of them together.

"No," he replied, keeping it short, closing himself off like he had done so in the past.

"But surely you must have some idea- Resh!" Lydia shouted in warning but she was too late, and the beast was upon him.

Resh saw nothing but a blinding light coursing over his vision and a searing pain in his head that felt as if there had been a fire lit inside. He staggered and life became a blur, the sound of the world around him gone in an instant.

Resh had to ignore the pain while he struggled to regain his senses otherwise he would have undoubtedly collapsed. That, however, was not an option. Considering how many times he'd already been injured, his ego couldn't take it again.

As Resh's vision was returning and he managed to control his movement, he was able to see glimpses of what seemed like a near impossible scene. Lydia was somehow managing to dance around the brute of a troll that had cracked his head. She took small stabs and swipes cutting it and weakening it bit by bit, whittling away at its legs, causing it to roar and lunge at her. A lunge she avoided with relative ease.

Resh was considering helping her take down the creature but after seeing how easily she was dispatching it, she didn't look like she needed the help. The only injury she actually sustained was minor to say the least and it was when she tried to drive the killing blow into its head to early. The troll had enough energy to keep going and it managed to put a small gash in her leg when fighting, flailing out from the pain in the throes of death. Throes which could have been avoided if the final strike had been better timed.

Although the injury was small it could have been a lot worse if the troll had been luckier. One day Resh was going to have to teach her about dealing the finishing blow, otherwise it could become a problem. Other than that, he had never seen a human fight that with that amount of skill.

'_Not bad, for a human,' _Resh thought after admiring the brutal scene of the panting blood-soaked woman that was now standing overthe mangled corpse of a troll. Even more amazing than a human managing to kill one close range was that she left the fight with only a scratch.

As the adrenaline started to leave her body and she started to calm down, Lydia now turned her attention to the man who had managed to stay conscious after receiving a blow that would kill most men. Right now she wanted nothing more than to jump the man there and then, but she knew it was just her blood going wild after the fight.

Resh was holding the back of his now bleeding head in his hand and trying to cope with the pain before he noticed the woman who was now staring at him with a weird look in her eyes.

"And you thought your head hurt," he muttered before continuing to walk up the mountain path.

**Poor Lydia, damn Resh and his troubled history.**

**I left a movie quote in there I'll leave it up to you to notice it, when I was writing it seemed perfect to put it in. Also I might write another Fanfic soon, it will be a secondary project (actually tertiary because of the prequel I'm going to write) that some of you probably won't be interested in. It's going to be a Fallout themed femslash, so some of you probably won't plan on reading it but those of you that are should look forward to it.**

**Also I left a poll in my profile page so vote if you want, when the results come in and I'm actually able to do it I'll post a picture up for you people.**

**Finally sorry for the lateness on this chapter, I had stuff occupying my writing time.**


	14. Short Lived Happiness

**This chapter had a ton of errors in it when I first wrote it (it was way past midnight and I was wide awake so my mind was half turned off) so I would like to thank my beta reader again for all the help, thanks again LadyDragon1316.**

"Are you okay? That sort of hit should kill a man," Lydia asked with a worn out voice and a partial but now fading lustful look in her eyes from the rushing blood of the fight.

"I'm not as weak as men," Resh replied trying to avoid any subject that might show he wasn't human.

"But-"

"I'm fine." That blunt statement stopped the conversation there, much to the annoyance of Lydia.

The only thing he wasn't fine with was the snow. Each step higher Resh climbed the colder and weaker he got. _'I hate this place. Why must everything be so freezing?' _Even using his magic to keep warm he could still feel his blood hardening.

"What about you? You came off worse than I did," he questioned her, changing the subject away from him. Resh found it weird that he was willingly carrying on a conversation that had essentially stopped. But believe it or not, he actually wanted to talk to his follower rather than walk through the cold in silence. Anything was better than that.

"That?" Lydia asked looking down at the gash in her leg. Resh nodded. "It's just a flesh wound," Lydia felt herself swell with pride that Resh was finally taking an interest in her.

"I have to say, that's the first time I've seen you fight. I'm impressed. Very few people can fight like that. I'll have to teach you how to finish a kill more effectively though. Even so, if you can keep fighting like that we're going to get along."

"Thanks." That was the only thing Lydia could think to say back, as she was so embarrassed at all this attention he was giving her. Lydia brushed her hair back as a natural response to all his kind words, trying to draw attention from her blushing. Little did she know Resh had seen and noticed the marks on her hand she had given herself last night.

"What's with the red marks on your hand? They weren't there yesterday, and the troll didn't swipe at your hand."

"What? Oh… those… err…," she hesitated, awkwardly turning red at the mention of her bites from the stifling of her Resh-focused orgasm from last night.

"Seriously, what are those?" Resh asked taking her hand, "Are those bite marks?" Confusion was running through his voice.

"It doesn't matter," Lydia all but snapped whipping her hand from him.

It shocked Resh that she was so proud she didn't want to be helped. But, on the other hand, he was exactly the same. _'Me, the same as a human? That'll be a story to tell,' _Resh smirked at that thought, and then turned to the now dark red Housecarl.

"On another note, as I was saying earlier, when we get to this temple I'm going to teach you how to finish off something larger than you properly. That thing managed to get a scratch on you, which could have been fatal if it had had a bit more luck on its side."

"How do you plan on doing that? You can't just tell me. We'll need another troll to practice on and I doubt that those monks will allow us to drag a monster into their monastery." The other problem she thought of was actually getting it there in the first place.

"Isn't it obvious? You're going take a few swings at me, and I'll show you how easy it is for an unarmed opponent to overthrow you. Especially one who's a lot stronger than you."

"No offense. Even though I'm sure you're a good fighter, I don't think you would last very long without a weapon," she laughed, obviously underestimating his skills.

"You'd be surprised how well I can use my hands. Unlike some, I know what to do with them," he replied with a smirk. Resh hadn't expected her to be so overconfident about her abilities. He liked her enthusiasm though, and that's what brought on the crude joke. It had been a while since he had been happy enough to actually enjoy a conversation. There was only one other who brought that side out of him. Just thinking about her though returned him back to his usual mood.

Lydia noticed this. Even though she had only seen a glimpse of him she liked happy Res. And she was sure he would probably prefer to stay happy.

"Why are you always so angry? Even when there's nothing going on to spite you, I can always see the annoyance in your eyes," Lydia tried to put on a tone of understanding but she didn't think it sounded very genuine.

"You already know the main reason. Everyone I was close to is gone," Resh replied trying to dismiss the subject.

"Don't lie to me!" Lydia shouted annoyed at the fact that he was lying to her. "That's not the real reason. That would make you sad, not pissed. Now just tell me!"

Resh was affronted by Lydia's sudden outburst and could feel rage building up inside him.

'_How dare she talk to me like that. I'm her superior. Does she have no respect?' _

He considered just killing her on the spot for the disrespect but then realised he deserved it. He had lied. He'd broken his most binding tradition. In his own land it may have even been him that would be killed, regardless of whether or not he was her superior.

"No. I'm sorry for lying but just stop talking. And don't you dare try to command me again," Resh spat the last bit with venom, an unspoken threat rolling from his mouth. He hated the idea of a human having power over him. Humans having power over anyone was never a good thing and he wouldn't let it happen to him.

"Or what?" she snarled trying to draw an answer out of him using his own fury as a tool, "What are you going to do about it?" She hoped that by poking the bear she would be able to get an answer. That, however, was not the case.

Resh had now gone deadly silent and was staring right at her. She could see a fierce look of pure rage flash across his eyes and realised she may have gone too far. This was the first time Lydia had ever felt true fear in years, as it seemed like Resh was actually going to kill her.

Seeing red, Resh took a step towards her, his hands clenching. Lydia, who was retreating a few steps back and keeping a hand on her sword hilt, had no doubts now that her goliath of a Thane would be able to defeat her with just his hands. Only now, she didn't want to be around to see the demonstration. Despite the size difference he seemed a lot more imposing than the troll she had killed as he approached her, looking like he was going to rip her to shreds. She wasn't so far from the truth. Thinking of the only thing she could, Lydia tried to jolt him out of his anger.

"Look! Temple!" Lydia yelled, snapping him out of his approach and causing him to turn and see how close they were.

All other thoughts of anger towards Lydia faded and were now replace with his hatred of being the dragonborn as the temple of High Hrothgar came into site. A magnificent shard of architecture jutting from the snow and retreating clouds. _'Maybe here I'll be able to find a way to be rid of this curse.' _

Surprisingly this wasn't the only thing on his mind when, to him, it should have been. The other thing nagging at his mind was what he was about to do to Lydia in his fury fuelled haze. The truth was, he didn't know. Turning back to the woman who was now crouched down away from him as if he would have killed her, which he probably would have. Unclenching his hand and taking a step back, Resh turned away. It disgusted him the he would go so crazy in a fraction of a second for no reason. He was no better than the humans he hated.

"Let's get going then, we're close," Resh said as if nothing had happened, walking towards the temple. And, although Lydia was sworn to follow him, this was the first time Lydia had thought about leaving him. It would have been a mark on her honour but, then again, cowering in fear from her Thane was as well. So she decided she might as well stay.

**Isn't Resh angry? I guess he doesn't like having bad experiences brought up.**

**I have included yet another movie quote. These things just come to me, also just to say last chapters quote is from **_**Aliens **_**and I'll reveal this one next week. (This won't become a 'chapterly thing' but I just felt like doing it while I had the chance). Anyway please review, follow and favourite if you enjoyed, any criticism or suggestions are also welcome.**


	15. Training

**Here's another chapter for you guys and gals out there, this one has the Greybeards in it. Also the quote from last chapter was from the black night in the Monty Python movie, the quote was "It's just a flesh wound."**

It had been two days since Lydia and Resh had arrived at High Hrothgar and Lydia was starting to get the feeling that Resh was avoiding her. She knew that he had never been a very talkative person. But now, ever since he went silent and almost killed her, he seemed to be going out of his way to make sure she never had a chance to even try to start up a conversation.

Whenever she entered a room he left it as soon as he noticed her. And whenever she tried to talk to him, he would just tell her he had things to do and that he had to talk to the Greybeards even though he never would.

Also, it may seem like the pettiest thing to be annoyed about but Resh hadn't got round to teaching her how to fight to a standard that he deemed correct. And Lydia was actually looking forward to that. She thought that he wouldn't be able to beat her when she had a weapon and she could show him that they were equal and she was a match for him.

Despite all her annoyance at this, Lydia still felt touched at the fact that he was angry at himself and showing some form of emotion because of _her_. It meant, on some level, she was more than just a lackey to him.

Resh was having his daily two hour sleep to keep warm. Unfortunately for Lydia, as they were in public place, he wasn't naked outside but instead asleep in a chair by the fire. The perfect chance to sneak up on him without him realising and fleeing from the room.

"Resh? Resh?" Lydia asked leaning over the back of the chair before shaking him lightly to wake him.

His eyes snapped open and darted across the room to see what woke him. Looking up he saw his Housecarl looking straight back down at him as if she wanted something. His eyes narrowed in anger when the twos gazes met. But, not wanting another performance like the other day, he bottled down his anger and sighed.

"What?"

"You said you would fight me barehanded," she told him.

"No," he growled, just wanted to get back to sleep. He wasn't even tired. He just wanted to find a way to stay away from her.

"But you promised." There was no arguing with that, and there was no way he was going to lie and break a promise to the same person.

"Fine. Do we have a blunt sword for you to use?" he asked, seeming less annoyed than before. It seemed that whenever the topic of fighting came up Resh seemed to calm down and stop being annoyed. Lydia took note of this. Maybe it could be a bridge between them.

"I don't think so," she told him checking the supply bag next to him, "Is that a problem?" She didn't want to accidently kill him just to prove that she could fight.

"No. Just take a sharp one. I doubt you'll get a good enough hit to seriously wound me," he replied before leaving the building and going into the courtyard. Lydia followed shortly after, choosing Resh's blade, the longer of the two swords, so she could put distance between them. She still didn't like the idea of fighting someone who was unarmed. But after his insult laced remark, she couldn't care less.

Lydia almost dropped the sword she was carrying in shock the moment she saw Resh outside waiting for her. He was no longer wearing his thick plated armour but was standing in the cold with nothing but a loincloth to cover _parts_ of his body. Understandable, really. If he needed to move quickly, armour would only weigh him down. Even so Lydia hoped the giant, muscular and, most importantly, naked man in front of her wouldn't be too much of a distraction.

"Are you going to start this or what?" Resh asked, jolting her out of her staring.

"What if I injure you?"

Resh snorted in derision, "I'll be fine."

The fact that he had so little respect in her abilities annoyed Lydia perhaps more than it should have and she swung without any control towards him. It was a badly coordinated swipe since she didn't want to hurt him. But still, with a sharp sword it could do a bit of damage.

She knew it wouldn't be a blow that made contact, but she expected him to step out of the way. Not do the complete opposite and throw himself at her. Within the space of a few seconds he had one hand on her sword arm holding it away and the other on her neck.

"You're dead. Try again. Better this time. You were distracted." There was condescension in his voice.

Taking her time, this time Lydia lunged towards him driving the sword at his chest. Taking a step to the left, he only just dodged its point, narrowly avoiding blood. She drew her sword back and swung at him again but, before she had a chance to reach him, he smacked the edge away from its intended arc with one hand, causing a large spray of blood to splatter onto the floor and then squeezed her wrist with his other hand, making her drop the weapon.

"Are you okay?" she asked, even though he was clearly the victor of the fight.

"I'm fine. You're the one who's dead," he replied smugly removing his hand from her wrist, grabbing her breastplate and lifting her up by about a foot, and away from any opportunity of picking up her weapon.

"Why would you grab a moving sword? Your hand's bleeding now." Lydia knew using a sharp sword would only be a bad thing.

"And? I still won. I can use my size and strength to my advantage as much as can most other larger creatures you will fight. Like that troll which still fought back when you had thought you could finish it. You cut me because it didn't matter. I can afford to be cut and injured a bit, and still carry on to win. You, however, have no such advantage. If someone much larger than you, such as myself, hit you, you would be dead," Resh instructed her, whilst using magic to heal up his blood soaked hand.

"Let's do this one more time now. Remember: don't give me any chances. Be prepared to hurt me. I can take it. Make sure I don't have an opportunity to grab you. And most importantly, try to get me on the floor it'll be harder for me to fight back, so aim for the legs. Don't let your guard down, though."

Once again, Lydia took her time before striking out, having one long breathe to calm herself before the fight began. Lashing out at him and pulling back quickly so he couldn't disarm her like he had done before she tried to ignore the voice in her head telling her not to try and kill him.

The first swipe he had expected and ducked out of the way, but he didn't expect her to kick him in the face when he went down low, breaking his nose and causing a little bit of disorientation. He ignored the pain and stepped back so she wouldn't lunge again. It was a ruthless attack and risky. But it worked, so she had his respect there.

Wiping away blood, Resh decided to attack this time. So he dove at her, ready to smack her sword away and tackle her if she tried to hit him with it. Taking into account what he said though, Lydia knew that he was willing to get a minor injury to come out on top. So instead of engaging right away, she darted away to his right to avoid him and then spun around a swung backwards as he went past causing a shallow gash and a stream of blood. Lydia smiled. She was getting the hang of this now.

Before she could react, Resh threw himself backwards at her without looking, tackling her but at the cost of making the cut bigger as her sword was now being pressed into it and against her. They were both on the ground now scrambling to get up. Lydia was up first but only for a second before an incredibly powerful punch to the back of armour brought her back down. _'That's going to bruise tomorrow,' _she thought, getting up again and dodging out of the way of another strike from her Thane.

She retaliated by slashing in a relatively large arc at his chest. An arc that could be easily countered. Realising her mistake, she stopped the sword dead in its tracks, then lifted up her armoured heel and drove it into the knee of the man who had been preparing for the sword but not the foot. Resh repressed a shout of pain as he could feel his leg fracture and he fell onto one knee. He looked up ready to continue the fight, only to see Lydia looking down at him with a smirk and a sword to his throat. She thought all had gone well and she had won until he swept her leg felling her as well. Lydia mentally slapped herself as she forgot to heed his warning about letting her guard down.

Lydia was now on the floor with Resh draped over her with a large hand by her neck about to tell her she was dead. _Again_. She wasn't going to let him win a third time in a row, so, as quickly a she could, she brought the edge of her sword up to his neck, ready to kill him if they were really fighting, and with the smuggest voice she could possibly muster said:

"Dead," Repeating his own words just to grate him.

"More of a stalemate, really," Resh grumbled rolling off her and unsteadily rising, saddening Lydia that she no longer had 'half naked Resh' on top of her, and brushing the dirt off his skin and healing his multiple scrapes and more serious wounds.

"So much of a stalemate, your blood would be spraying from your neck before you could even blink."

"Yeah, I guess so. But you were the one with a weapon," he laughed helping her off the floor, wincing from his knee whilst he did it.

'_Wow, he is a really different person when he fights," _Lydia thought. She was going to say something along those lines but was interrupted when one of the Greybeards walked over.

"That was a remarkable fight. There aren't many Nords who could do that," said Arngeir with a knowing look after having watched the entire scene. "Come, we have waited long enough and have much to discuss, Dragonborn." Resh hissed at the mention of his title, but decided against taking any action, knowing that the old and peaceful man had meant nothing by it.

Seemingly ignoring her skill in the fight, Arngeir left silently with Resh following so he could get answers. The only sound came from Resh taking a bad step on his leg and cursing out loud to all High Hrothgar. Lydia smirked. She had definitely won that time.

**Is it just me or does Resh get injured ALL THE TIME? Lydia definitely got the hang of not caring if she hurt him, huh? She really kicked his arse that time, although maybe if he had a weapon he could have mixed his superior strength with the blade and been even better at fighting, better yet let him use his magic and see how well she does or even better still let him fight in Tsaesci form. **

**Anyway… enough of trying to 'big up' Resh, I hope you all liked this chapter, so please review and alert.**


	16. No Longer The Snake He Was

**Here is a picture by DeviantArtist- ENORCA which I think accurately depicts Resh (it's actually of a Naga but is still effective) ** . **of course going to Tamriel he had to lose all his gold stuff but still, pretty damn cool, I also set it as this Fanfics picture. **

**Anyway… Greybeards now.**

Resh was almost sad that he had to leave Lydia behind so soon after their training. It had been fun. And, as the biting pain in his kneecap told him, challenging. To be honest, he hadn't expected her to learn that quickly. Nor had he, by any stretch of the imagination, expected her to actually best him in one of the rounds.

Maybe she wasn't as incompetent as he had originally thought. Then again, if she were to fight him properly on fair terms then no matter how capable she was at fighting, he couldn't think of a way she would be able to overcome him.

He had actually been meaning to talk to these Greybeards for a while, so it was a good thing this Arngeir pulled him aside to talk. The others would just whisper "Dragonborn" at him, as if it were a good thing, and shake the entire temple with their voice.

All previous thoughts were overshadowed by a new thought that came to mind when he shuddered. The cold, which was starting to torment him again worse than ever in this divine forsaken blizzard covered mountain.

'_Why, oh why, did I have to fight without armour? How could I have possibly been so stupid? This place is colder than anywhere else I've been. So of course my magic would fade quicker.'_

Thankfully he and Arngeir had been walking towards the room with the fire, so perhaps Resh wouldn't have to collapse on the floor shivering and he'd get to keep the remaining shreds of his dignity left over after having being injured by his underling.

At last Arngeir finally broke the silence, "Please, take a seat by the fire. You look like you need it."

"I was going to sit anyway, permission or no." Unfortunately Resh's little act of rebellion didn't have the substance to it he had hoped for, as he all but ran towards the fire to stop from shivering.

"I have much to speak to you about but you probably have many questions about this. So please, at your leisure."

"Remove this curse. I don't care how I got it or why I have it, I just want it gone. And you are my best chance at it. I don't want this thing… please," Resh all but begged. Shameful though it was, he probably would have gone that far if it meant getting rid of it and being able to return to his own people.

"It isn't something you get or have. It's something that you are. You can't turn it back, as it has always been. The only way to solve your problems would be a blade across your neck, or if you were to try to think differently."

"I am not above killing an old man. You would do well to stop speaking," Resh spat, not liking where the conversation was going, stiffening up and regaining his sense of pride.

"I can't even try to help you until you try to live with who you are. The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind," he replied with a smirk, letting his words seep in.

"You know my people? How?" he whispered at the mention of 'snake', stunned in shock that a human could have figured it out on its own. All other _mammals_ seemed oblivious to what was a fairly transparent disguise to any other Tsaesci. The trick for his people was the distinct scent they all had that men and mer couldn't detect.

"It wasn't difficult. Did you really think, in all my years of trying to gain knowledge on dragons, I hadn't come across a Tsaesci? Dragons and Tsaesci are never too far apart, often trying to kill each other. And at the news of a dragon dying recently, it was more likely to be one of you than anything else, even if you are usually a continent away."

"How did you know? I look just like any of your kind."

"It was obvious really. The first clue I picked up on was your tendency to constantly try to stay warm. It may not sound like much, but if you were a true Nord you wouldn't need to bother. Your blood would fend off the cold. The other more reliable proof was the fight between you and your housecarl. No Nord, even one your size, could fight like that unarmed. And not even an Orc could lift a fully armoured and fully grown woman that easily," he stated matter-of-factly. It hadn't occurred to Resh how his strength could be an indication he wasn't a Nord. It was just natural for his kind to be powerful.

"So there's no way to get rid of it?" Resh sighed.

"No," he answered softly. Although Arngeir thought of being the Dovahkiin as a blessing, he still felt sorry for him. Even if he was a violent xenophobe that viewed all other races as prey, no one deserved to be the very thing they despise.

"Fine," Resh gritted his teeth at the sheer fact of the matter. "What am I meant to do now? I can't return home." That was the hardest part, knowing he could never go back to his own people without risking of death.

"Who says you can't go back? No one's stopping you. It would be a shame though. The only dragons alive are here in Skyrim and from what I know, the Tsaesci love hunting them. It would be too bad if you were to miss out on this opportunity especially as all the others are."

Resh's face twisted in anger. Of course he couldn't return. The ignorance of this man who thought he knew so much about his kind astounded him.

"I _was_ going to return after travelling through Skyrim and leave on a ship from Solitude. And when I arrived back at Akavir I would be asked about everything. And being bound by honour, I'll tell them what I have discovered about myself. And there is no doubt that they would kill me and eat my flesh like they do to all other dragons. All other _prey_. So I have to stay. Around _humans_.It's either that or have my own kind devour me." His voice was a mixture of sorrow and anger. Arngeir shifted in his seat. Anyone could be unpredictable and dangerous in this state. The added fact that it was a giant, immortal, cannibalistic snake just made it even more worrisome for the old man.

"You could… help us. There are a lot of important matters that you could definitely help out with. You could try learning more of the dragon language." Arngeir couldn't tell what Resh was thinking but he just went silent and stared to the floor as the realisation his life was wrecked truly set in.

He could see why the Tsaesci would be opposed to being the Dragonborn. It was the ultimate irony. To be from a species that hunted and ate dragons but to have a soul of one yourself. He didn't know if Resh was still listening but decided to carry on and hope he was still paying attention.

"- or you could try to kill Alduin, the world eater, the draconic god-" Resh suddenly looked up from the floor at that last option that sounded worthwhile. Maybe by killing a god, his kind would overlook what he was. They had never held the gods in very high favour.

"-You could try sorting out the war there's lots of-" he was cut off from his explanation by Resh who had already made up his mind.

"Killing the dragon god sounds interesting. How would I do that?" Resh asked trying to put aside his troubles and sound inquisitive.

"I thought that would sound appealing. Talk to Paarthunax, our leader, about it. He can tell you more than I ever could. After that, the rest of the Greybeards will teach you the art of the Voice. Paarthunax is at the Throat of the World, the top of this mountain, where the ice never melts." Resh shuddered at the thought.

"Judging by the fact I'm freezing here, isn't it fairly obvious I'll die if I attempt to climb higher? There's a blizzard outside. I'll die in seconds. Can't he just come down?" And this monk was meant to be wise? If that was true any other Nord would be the equivalent of shaved Tang Mo.

"No. He never comes down. That's not like him. You have to go up. I could teach you a dragon shout to clear the winds, but that will only help so much."

"I'm not using that _voice_. I may have accepted it but I will never _embrace_ it." Resh hissed at the words 'voice' and 'embrace', hatred spilling from his throat. He could never be okay with what he was. Perhaps he should let his people kill him. He deserved it for what he was.

"You could travel to the College. All kinds of masters of the arcane arts dwell there. I think you could probably find someone there to enchant an object for you. Maybe an enchantment to keep you from freezing over. Make sure they don't make it too hot though. You don't want to fry yourself just because you don't want to spend an hour or two sleeping in the sun."

"Where is this College, then? An enchantment like that would definitely solve a lot of my problems," he asked. But the look on the old man's face told him that he probably didn't want to know the answer.

"Deep in the heart of Winterhold, the coldest of the holds, prone to snowstorms," Arngeir told him regretfully, knowing how much it would pain the Tsaesci who was shivering, even next to a fire.

'_Great. Just Great.'_ Resh thought _'Why do things always have to get colder?'_ He dreaded the trip ahead of him.

**Tell me how I did portraying the Greybeards, I'm not sure it was any good. It was hard trying to write what he would think. Also I haven't actually done the main quest in about a year so I can't really remember how the first visit at High Hrothgar goes so bear with me. I might make stuff up or skip stuff by accident.**

**As you can probably guess the intellectual sounding thing Arngeir said obviously wasn't made up by me but it was thought of by '****Friedrich Nietzsche.' Anyway, reviews, comments favourites and follows are always appreciated so… till next time.**


	17. A Piece Of The Past

**Lydia's POV again… Enjoy.**

Lydia was starting to wonder what Resh was talking to that Greybeard about. She hoped it was worth ruining one of the few moments Lydia had ever had at bonding with her Thane.

She was shocked to see Resh leaving Arngeir that quickly. It had only been about ten minutes and now he was striding out of the room with his usual pissed off look, as if the Divines had personally offended him.

"That was quick." Lydia had figured that a meeting with the Greybeards would have taken considerably longer than that. Perhaps that was only part of what Resh was called for, and the rest would be discussed within the next few days.

"Pack the supplies. We're leaving," Resh announced before he realised the cold, shuddered and ran off to the courtyard to retrieve his previously discarded clothes.

"Already?" Lydia asked running to keep up with him.

"Yes, already. We're going to the College in Winterhold," Lydia didn't bother to ask why but assumed they were going to hone Resh's magic. There weren't that many other reasons she could think of.

"So… aren't you going to tell me what you talked about?" Lydia enquired, her curiosity piqued.

Resh sighed. "It turns out I can't get rid of this Dragon soul-" Lydia still didn't know why he would want it gone. "-and I have to climb the rest of this mountain to meet the Greybeards leader."

"If that's so, why are we leaving now? We're already here. Wouldn't it be easier to climb this mountain first, then go to the College." It was, after all a mountain they had almost finished climbing already. How hard could it be to finish it off now?

"I'll die if I try to climb it because of the cold. It's too much."

"You're a Nord though. A little bit of snow shouldn't bother you that much. I could probably go up myself if it weren't for the blizzards."

"Well, I'm obviously not like you, am I?" Resh snapped, not liking the idea the woman was more capable than him. "The blizzard is just my second obstacle but I'll deal with that after this."

"Did the Greybeards tell you how to get past it? If their leader is at the top, they must know a way up."

"Yes," he hissed "They want me to use the Dragon voice to clear the snowstorm."

"So… can you, then?" Lydia asked wondering about the power he had.

"Probably. But I refused to learn their vile tongue."

"Why?" She was shocked he turned down such a power.

"Because I am not a Dragon, and will not act like one. And if I do, you have my permission to run me through with my own sword." That put an awkward stop to their conversation and they continued the rest of their walk over to where their supplies were in silence, Lydia desperately trying to think of something to say so she could brighten the mood. And more importantly, start talking again.

Such a conversation starter wasn't found until Lydia had already finished packing up all of their equipment and was getting ready to haul it all the way down the mountain again.

"Can you carry some of this? You're obviously stronger than me," she asked. Resh puffed at the compliment but quickly hid his satisfaction so that he could show his distaste to the question.

"I thought you were meant to carry all my stuff. That's half the reason I keep you around." That comment stung but Lydia didn't show it. She also started to think about what the other half of the reason was.

"You could at least help. There's quite a lot here." Resh looked over and saw that there was. Aside from both the bedrolls, his own he never uses, she was having to carry her sword and shield, all the food and drink, all his and her own spare clothes, and also any other personal possessions she had with her.

"Fine. But I never needed help when I used to have to carry everything." They stopped and Resh started to sort through the things they should each take. Resh ended up taking most of it so all Lydia was left with was her own possessions and her sword and shield. They had now practically swapped roles.

"I can't picture you serving someone up to the point where you would have to do everything for them. I've always imagined you as the 'I serve no one and take no orders' sort of man. The only part of that which sounded like you was never having any help," Lydia laughed. But then, after seeing Resh's face drop at the mention of his past, she knew she had brought up unwanted and saddening memories.

"Then again, I'm sure that-" she tried to change the subject but was cut off by Resh who saw what she was trying to do.

"It's all right," he assured her. "You don't need to avoid a subject on the off chance it will upset me. I'm not an infant. And if you really want to know, I wasn't in charge of my previous party. Far from it, I was made to do everything. I only did so because the others were of a higher rank than me. You are right about me not accepting help very often, though."

"So you were at the bottom of the pile?" Lydia asked incredulously, unable to imagine someone who acted as superior as Resh being below someone else.

"I wasn't the only person at the bottom. But it seemed like it. Kayce was in charge and seemed to focus on me more than anyone, so I had to do all the menial tasks."

"Kayce?"

"That was my pet name for Kayci," Resh smiled at the memory.

"I'm surprised you were allowed to have a nickname for your superior," Lydia asked, prying to try and gauge the two's relationship.

"I thought of it years ago when we were of equal ranks and it just stuck. It would always get on her nerves. Made her feel weak. She knew I meant nothing by it, though. Plus she was the complete opposite of weak. In a fair fight I would barely stand a chance. As well as that, she rarely used weapons, making it even more remarkable," Resh told her.

Lydia could only imagine how good a fighter Kayci was if she could easily take on who she considered the most capable fighter she had ever seen.

"You were equal and she overtook you?"

Resh laughed, "Yes. She never got tired of rubbing it, in either. Regardless of title, we were still very close and we never let anything get in the way of that."

"How close?" It was fairly obvious how close they really were, and how close they got. But Lydia wanted to hear it from him.

It seemed to Lydia that Resh had just reached his daily limit of opening up and after a few seconds of silence he replied, "It doesn't really matter anymore. Let's just go." The rest of the walk back down the mountain to Ivarstead was met with an uncomfortable silence that gave Lydia time to take in everything Resh had said.

**Resh's past is getting interesting over time huh? **

**I hope you all liked that chapter so please do the usual, till next time. **


	18. Various Arrangements

**Hey guys and gals, here's another chapter for you. I'm writing this one even later than usual, anyway, enjoy. Still Lydia's POV, I've decided I prefer it so I may use it more often than Resh's.**

**On a side note I'm not sure how much you people care but 'Star Wars Battlefront 3' footage has been leaked and rumoured to come out soon, I for one am really , really, REALLY pumped about it and can't wait, after 8 years of waiting its finally here and looks awesome, all this postponing will finally come to an end. I would give away all my games just to play it now.**

The rest of the journey back down to Ivarstead had been rather uneventful. The only creature they had come across was a goat that was practically waiting to be blown off the edge of the cliff by winds, or killed by the now dead troll.

Lydia noticed that Resh carried all the supplies a lot more efficiently than she did. She had to strap both the bedrolls and the bag full of supplies to her back to be able to carry them, whereas Resh, being a lot larger and stronger than herself, was able to hold it all together with a single arm that never seemed to get weakened by the constant load.

And with his spare hand Resh had conjured a small ball of fire to hold by himself to stay warm. Lydia wondered why his Nordic blood wasn't keeping him the right temperature, but decided not to ask in case it was an illness or some kind of injury that made him more susceptible to the cold. If it was, she doubted her Thane would like it to be brought up since the thing he seemed to treasure the most was not being weak.

"Why are we going to the College?" Lydia finally asked after an hour of silent walking.

"I need a certain enchantment. Preferably on a ring or amulet," he replied.

"What kind of enchantment?" she questioned further.

"The kind that keeps me from freezing death in this snow."

"Do we have enough food to last the whole journey?" Even though Resh didn't seem to eat very often, she didn't want her Thane to die just because she didn't think to remind him.

"If you want any more supplies we can go back to Whiterun and I'll buy some for you. I don't think I'll bother with food."

"How? We don't have enough money for lots of food. I used up most my own coin when I first met you and you don't seem to have any."

"I'll sell my bedroll to pay for it," he said as if it were the perfect solution, even though he would be losing his sleeping arrangements.

"I can't ask you to sell your own bedroll just for me. We'll sell mine. I don't want to inconvenience you." Even though she was flattered by his offer, Lydia knew it wasn't her place to let her Thane sacrifice something of his just for her. It was meant to be her doing all the 'going without'.

"Have you ever seen me use my bedroll?"

"No," Lydia blushed, remembering the times he had stripped nude in front of her before sleeping.

"Then it's not going to inconvenience me," he said simply.

"Thanks. If you ever need something from me, just ask. And if you feel like sleeping properly for once, feel free to take my bedroll," Lydia offered. She doubted he would need anything. And if he did, he would be even less likely to as. But she didn't want to appear disrespectful.

"Will do," Resh replied. "Just wondering, but how often do you need to eat and drink?"

Lydia was thrown off guard by such a question _'How could someone not know how often a person needed to eat?!'_

"You're joking, right?" Lydia asked incredulously.

"No. I just need to know how much I should buy."

"I need to eat three times a day," Lydia replied slowly finding it really weird a fully grown man didn't know how often someone should eat.

"Three times a day!?" Resh wondered how he was going to manage to keep this woman fed. It would either require hunting every day or buying food regularly, neither option really appealed to him. _'How do humans manage that? They must have to go into town every day. How they get anything done is beyond me."_

"Yes. How often do you eat?"

"Usually, once a fortnight. That's all I need to keep going. Anything in between would just be a waste of food and water."

"How are you not dead!? If I were you I would die five times between every meal." Lydia couldn't believe what she was hearing. If anyone ate that little they should be dead. Or at the very least shrivelled to a husk. Not a foot and a half taller than her with muscles all over.

"I guess I'm just more durable than you," Resh said. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the full truth either.

"So durable that I beat you in our training." Lydia regretted the words as soon as they came out and expected Resh to take offence. But instead, he laughed.

"True. But don't get too happy about that. I just wasn't expecting you to be so brutal. If I were the same, you would still be at the top of that mountain."

"Why would I still be at the top of the mountain?" she asked looking up and trying to make sense of what her Thane had said.

"Because you would be too busy lying dead in a pool of your own blood to walk back down," Resh replied jokingly.

"Ah. But if you did that, then who would be there to waste all our money on such _worthless_ supplies such as food or water?" she countered, emphasising the word 'worthless'. "Speaking of which, we should speed up if we want to get to Whiterun before all the good stuff is bought."

"Does it really matter how good it is?"

"It's more the fact that there will be less there, so we might have to stay in Whiterun another day to wait for all the supplies."

Lydia could see the panic flash across her Thanes eyes and, without warning, Resh suddenly started walking much faster, causing Lydia to have to jog slightly to catch up. Was her hometown really that bad?

The trip back to Whiterun was a lot quicker than their journey to High Hrothgar had been, and only took a few hours at the most. It was only about midday before Whiterun and its surrounding farms came into view. But that's not all that they saw.

The two were also greeted by the sight of three warriors in the distance trying to take down a giant. Lydia didn't think they needed any help, but obviously Resh had other plans as he drew his sword and sparked lightning in his spare hand. And then, without warning, sprinted down the hill at his new enemy.

Lydia sighed, and drew her own sword. She hoped he wouldn't pick a fight with every giant they saw.

**Just so you know, I am aware that if I was going exactly in time with the game I should of included the Companions on Resh's first visit, I didn't forget, it was on purpose because Resh arrived at Whiterun in a rather different way than most would, so I had to do a little editing.**

**I can't decide if it's the next chapter or the one after it, probably next chapter, but I'm going to be doing something a little bit different for it so it'll most likely be very unusual to what I normally write so just keep an open mind as it's only for one, maybe two chapters. Anyway, as for this chapter I hope you all enjoyed it.**


	19. Of Fur And Scales

**As I said this chapter will be different, hopefully good as well, also its only going to be for this chapter so if you don't like it then it won't be a common occurrence, anyway… enjoy.**

There it was again: that scent. She knew something was wrong about it but she just couldn't put her finger on it. Aela had noticed the same smell a few days ago and she still didn't like it. It was bitter and made her feel like there was something large and dangerous nearby. She wanted it gone.

It wasn't the giant she was firing arrow after arrow into. She had fought them before. This was something different. Something getting closer and its smell getting stronger, attacking her senses.

The Huntress was snapped out of her daydreams by the sound of a huge roar that was torn from the throat of the beast that had now taken a long stream of lightening to the face and had a sword cleave into it leg, staggering it. Aela would have laughed were the situation not so dangerous, _'Foolish man,' _she thought angrily at someone who was stupid enough to try and fight a giant that close up. It was like he was trying to be crushed into a thick red paste.

With loud bellow the giant turned and swung its huge club toward the new attacker. If a blow like that had connected the results would be devastating and she and her Companions would have to spend the day collecting the scraps of him left over. But it hadn't. Instead of dodging out of the way, he did something so unexpected that even the giant looked surprised. The Nord threw himself onto the beast's chest and dragged it onto the ground. Aela was stunned. Not even the twins together would be able to pull a fully grown giant to the ground.

Before the giant had time to recover, the mysterious Nord, who was a giant in his own rite, had carved a deep gash in its neck making its eyes widen in fear as it started to choke. Aela almost felt sorry for it as its futile attempt at removing the threat were merely swatted away in vain.

With a final strangled choke the giant stopped struggling and stopped writhing under the blood soaked man. As well as her, Farkas and Njada both appeared to be in great shock at what had just happened, as they were both now staring at the man who had just exceeded what any normal human should have been capable of. Even his follower, who had tried keeping up with him when he ran down from the hills, looked astounded by the bloody scene.

It was remarkable for a single man to be able to do himself what would usually take an entire team of mercenaries with heavy casualties. She would have congratulated him if it wasn't for her wolf howling at her to get rid of him and trying to break free to do it itself.

_Kill it. Kill it. Kill it. Kill it now!_

Despite the fact that she still felt hostility toward the stranger, she would not murder a seemingly innocent man. Even if her instincts demanded it… at least not in public.

"I believe the words you are looking for are 'Thanks for the help'," The man stated, climbing off the fallen beast. All respect she had for him was draining away. What arrogance to just assume she was happy with what he had done.

"Thanks for what? Taking the glory for felling a monster we were about to slay?" she spat in reply. The nerve of this stranger, waltzing in and finishing off a beast that still had several of her arrows lodged inside it.

"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't realise a few poorly placed arrows clearly marks it as yours. I was clearly in the wrong to kill it efficiently. Something you didn't seem to be able to do," he replied sarcastically with a smug look on his face.

Aela narrowed her eyes, clearly considering beating him to a pulp right there to teach him who not to piss off. How dare he insult her archery! In the corner of her eyes she noticed Farkas and Ria visibly wincing at the hole this fool was burying himself in by insulting her. She even noticed his companion, who she recognised as Lydia, a former local of Whiterun, bury her face in her hands at what he had said.

Aela give him a vicious glare, showing just how close she was to hurting him. "I would take that back if I were you," she advised him, almost growling each word in anger.

"Why? It's all true. As well as that, you're quite a lot shorter than me, so I'm not very worried about what little damage you can do." It was like he was trying to drive her to kill him. Something she was seriously thinking about.

_You could let me out, I'll rip its throat out, and no one will know it was you. After all it won't be, it'll be me._

Aela pushed down the urge of her wolf. She knew better than to give it dominance. Embracing her instincts and her gifts were one thing, but letting it control her was another.

"Take. It. Back. Now," she snarled in repressed rage, her threats and anger hanging off every syllable, making the whole environment around her hostile. She had all but forgotten the others that were near.

He took a step closer as if to demonstrate how much taller he was than her, and then looked down at her. "Why don't you come up here and say that," he sneered.

Her wolf screamed at her to kill him. To kill it. Whatever it was that was standing in front of her. She could feel the strain of trying to keep her wolf from breaking free and consuming her. She could feel it scratching at the surface but she pushed it down. There was probably nothing wrong with him, apart from arrogance, despite what her instincts thought. But she couldn't help feel on edge. Her gift had rarely been wrong.

"How about I just cut you down a few feet so we're eye level? I would be more than happy to do the cutting myself," she retorted making her point clear, to which she could see his face ball up in anger.

"I wouldn't suggest threatening me," he hissed at her, fire in his eyes. "Otherwise, next time I go out to hunt something, I'll be returning with a few _wolf hides _in my pack." Aela's eyes widened at the fact he knew what she was. They then narrowed again after realising he had in turn threatened her and her family.

That was the last straw. Who did he think he was to threaten her pack? Even more importantly, how did he know about her pack? All in the space of a few seconds, she lunged at him viciously, ready to break his face. She was actually surprised at herself for holding off attacking him this long considering how much of an arrogant bastard he had been. He barely had a chance to blink before she had jumped on him ready to bring him to the ground.

She had expected him to straight away fall, like so many others, onto the floor after all the weight she had thrown at him. Although he staggered in shock, it had only taken him a few moments to recover and hold her back. He was obviously strong, seeing as he had managed to defend himself from an attack like that, but he still seemed to be struggling when it came to keeping her blows from his face. A few of them even connected before her fellow Companions dragged her off him. She was sure if she was given another few seconds she could have bloodied his nose.

Even though she was a lot smaller than Farkas, as well as the other Nord, he was struggling to hold her still whilst she was thrashing to get loose and break this stranger's face. Aela was so focussed in her haze of anger she could barely hear what was going on around her. But from the small parts of the conversation she had heard, she could have sworn that Farkas asked him if he wanted to join the Companions. Why would that idiot invite that arrogant bastard to Jorrvaskr? Could Farkas not smell him?

He finally released her when Resh, whose name she had picked up from his and Farkas' small exchange, had finally left. The name didn't sound very Nordic, so maybe he wasn't raised around other Nords. No wonder he was a prick.

She considered attacking him again as he had his back turned and was leaving. But instead turned to more pressing matters, and glared at Farkas who was now shifting uncomfortably at her gaze.

"I know you're probably angry at me for suggesting he joins us. But you have to admit, from what we've seen, he could be a great add-" he didn't have a chance to finish before he was cut off by the angry huntress.

"Don't say it," she growled. "If he actually joins us, it won't be just him I'll make regret today." Farkas swallowed and looked at the man who had infuriated Aela so much walk away, silently hoping he wouldn't try to become a Companion and knowing all too well Aela would stay true to her threats.

**How was that in Aela's POV? Also, isn't Resh a prick to werewolves? **

**I said there would be something slightly different about this chapter so I hope you liked the change.**

**I actually really like the Companions, so the fact I had to paint them in a negative way and threaten them because of Resh's xenophobic views on all non-Tsaesci was a bit annoying to write.**


	20. A New Rumour In Town

**Here's another chapter, not Aela this time but back to Resh's POV again, don't worry though, that wasn't the last you've seen of the Companions.**

'_How dare that wolf attack me. I should just kill it and rid this town of that beast.'_

Although that was his initial reaction to the attack,Resh didn't know what to think about that woman. However much he wanted it dead, he couldn't help but admire its ferocity when attacking. Mainly because it had been so unexpected and taken him by surprise. If she had a weapon, he might have been killed. The intention to kill was definitely there.

Few people, even those cursed by a Daedra, would outright attack someone who was clearly larger and stronger than them just because they had been angered. Resh couldn't decide if she was brave or foolish. Either way, to land that many strikes, weak they may have been, upon his face even when he was trying to shield himself, she had his respect. He still didn't like her though. Then again, he didn't like himself, and probably for the same reason. Not being one of 'his' kind.

"So… what do you think of Aela, then?" Lydia asked, breaking the silence.

"I don't like her," he replied keeping it short.

"Yeah, well, I don't think she likes you much either. Next time you meet her, don't say whatever it was you said last time. She's snaps quite easily, and I doubt you will want that to happen again considering she took her anger out on you."

"The strikes weren't painful," Resh snapped defensibly so he didn't appear weak. "I was merely surprised."

"Even so, I wouldn't suggest getting on the bad side of Aela. I've known her for a while and most people who do, end up regretting it. She can be very… primal."

"I'm aware," Resh said sourly. "If she gets any worse than last time, I'll kill her and the rest of her pack. I don't respond well to being around the servants of a Daedric Prince."

"What are you talking about? She's a Companion, they're honourable, there's no way they have any allegiances to a demon," she told him, thinking him delusional for assuming that the most respectable group in Skyrim were linked, in any way, to a Daedra.

"They are. I could smell it on them. Well, two of them anyway. They're werewolves, followers of Hircine, willingly or not." Lydia doubted Resh was lying. He didn't seem like the sort of person to lie. Plus he was the Thane of the city, so she was obligated to believe him.

Even if he was telling the truth about what he thought, it doesn't mean was actually correct. After all, how well could you really trust someone's sense of smell? Only the beast races senses were that acute.

"What's a werewolf?" she asked trying to pry to see if he actually knew what he was saying.

"It's a Demonic illness passed on through the blood. Most view Hircine's 'gift' as the curse it is. Although there are some that see it as a blessing. They're give more power than most could dream for when in their Daedric form. And their improved senses means that even when in their normal body there are few people that equal them in combat prowess. Or they might not have wanted to have Hircine's blood in the first place, and may strive to remove it. Either way they both lead to the same end: power in life, and eternal servitude to a cruel god in death."

"What should we do?" Lydia asked, but, after guessing his reply, quickly cut Resh off when he started to speak, "Other than try to kill them." This time he said nothing.

The silence the followed was soon dissipated when Resh pushed open the doors of Whiterun and remembered why he came to the city in the first place: to buy supplies for his follower.

"Where would be the best place to buy all this stuff _you_ want?" he asked putting emphasis on the fact that he didn't want to buy anything.

Lydia sighed, "It's not stuff I _want_. It's stuff I need, or I'll die. And you can buy food in the market which is further down the city. You can also sell the bedroll there to pay for it."

Resh left Lydia behind and walked up to the first stall he saw with any form of food and asked "How much is all the food on the counter." He wasn't sure if it was enough to last the journey or not, but he had to guess. He had never needed to buy such a large amount of food for one person, especially considering how much she supposedly has to eat.

"About 150 septims, probably slightly more. But you're buying so much you should have a discount," Carlotta replied, shocked that he was just taking everything. It must be one long trip he was going on.

"I actually don't have any money with me, so is there any way I could just sell you this bedroll to pay for it all? We don't need both of them. I don't even sleep in mine." The store woman looked even more shocked at this news than she had been at the large amount of food, and then looked over to Lydia, eyebrows raised.

"Usually I would only buy that for around 100. But for you, the rest is on me," Carlotta smirked unable to supress a grin at this new gossip. "Think of it as my thanks for making this day slightly more interesting." Resh was confused as to what this meant, but just wrote it off as there being few travellers in Whiterun.

"Thank you," Resh said collecting all the food, and dumping the bedroll down on the stall.

As Resh started to leave, she glanced over at Lydia again, then back to him, "Huh, I didn't expect you and Lydia would start to _get along_ this quickly."

Lydia, seeing the transaction was over edged over to her Thane, and saw the large amount of supplies he had bought. "You bought all of that with one bedroll?

"She seemed happy to trade. She said I had made the day more interesting. Maybe she was proud of having the Thane that saved the city from the first dragon seen for years buy from her," Resh suggested.

Resh looked over to Carlotta who was now happily talking, in a hushed tone, to group of people who were all staring at him and Lydia. They snapped their heads away the moment he made eye contact started whispering amongst themselves again.

"Yeah, that's definitely it. She's already telling all those people, I didn't know I'd become so renowned in this city so quickly," he announced proudly.

"Are we going to leave straight away, then?" Lydia asked, hoping she would get more sleep before they trekked off.

"No, not right now. I might see what these Companion people are like. Maybe some of them are actually tolerable to be around."

"Jorrvaskr is their base of operations. Follow me. Just try not to get in any trouble there," she told him, trying to make sure he didn't kill any of them, like he wanted.

"Fine," Resh sighed. "But if I'm provoked, I'm killing the short woman." Their short trip to Jorrvaskr was very strange. People kept staring at them and giggling for no reason whenever the two walked together.

'_Humans are weird, what could they possibly be laughing about?'_

**I Hope you all liked this chapter, I was actually going to make this to do with the Companions, but the buying of food stretched on too long so I'll separate it into two chapters. I'm going to try writing more often, because I don't think I get enough done every week, so I'll be getting more chapters out as soon as possible.**


	21. First Impressions

**Here is another chapter, I hope you all liked the lack of wait involved, anyway more Companions, so here you go.**

**Vilkas POV**

"-Also I heard that the reason they left wasn't to see the Greybeards, but just to sh-," Vilkas cut Njada off, unable to bear the sound of that infernal woman spreading rumours about people she knew nothing about.

"Njada, just stop. How fast does gossip travel in this town? They've only been in Whiterun for about 10 minutes and you think you know everything about them," he snapped at her. He was growing tired of her constant vindictiveness towards everyone and that she spoke of people behind their backs as well.

"Vilkas is right. All you do is complain about people. You haven't even met them yet," said Athis, the dark elf who held a strong distaste towards the woman.

"If I had wanted your opinion I would have asked for it, _elf_," she growled at him. It was clear to Vilkas that the main reason the two didn't get along was the race difference. Unlike most Nords, he didn't find his views clouded by such unnecessary factors as birth. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for Njada.

"I just thought that you would want the opinion of someone who had actually proved themselves, unlike some," he replied, knowing she hadn't had nearly as much experience as a Companion as him.

"Go run back to the college where your people belong, and hide with the rest of the Thalmor!" Njada yelled throwing her fist at the dark elf who she had hated for as long as she could remember. He avoided the blow easily. Vilkas was going to try and interrupt and stop a fight before it started. But after seeing the anger in both their eyes, decided it would be best if they were to both get whatever quarrels they had out of the way.

"That's not even the right kind of elf, you ignorant, narrow-minded bitch!" he shouted at her returning with a swing of his own, colliding with her jaw.

Just as the brawl had started and the rest of the Companions began to gather, the doors of Jorrvaskr were pushed open causing a few of the spectators of the fight to turn, most of whom just went back to placing various bets on the two and cheering. All except for Aela, who had seen the pair walk through, looked at the hulking Nord and contorted her face in anger before clapping Farkas hard round head and storming off.

He could smell them the second they walked through the door. The rumours were lies, as he had thought. If they really were lovers, she would have his scent on her. It was a good thing she didn't though, because the man's scent made him Vilkas want to rip him to shreds.

Vilkas's wolf howled at him, _'Aela hates it as well. Imagine how pleased she would be if we killed it. Maybe you'll finally rut like we've always wanted. Expand the pack,' _his wolf had always been interested in Aela. Maybe it was because she was the only female werewolf in an otherwise male pack.

He shook those unwanted thoughts out of his head. Vilkas knew better than to give in to his wolf's urges and had gone years without obeying or even listening to his wolf. And he wasn't going to start now. Kodlak would know what to do and tell him how to not surrender to his wolf. So before his wolf could get any more worked up, he paced downstairs to find the Harbinger.

_**Five minutes later**_

"-But I still hear the call of blood," Vilkas continued, stressing on his earlier _urges_.

"We all do. It is our burden to bear. But we can _overcome_," Kodlak replied with a stern voice at the word 'overcome'.

Sensing the change in the conversation to Kodlak's plans, Vilkas remembered Skjor and Aela's love of their curse. "You have my brother and I, obviously. But I don't know if the rest will go along quite so easily."

"Leave that to me," The Harbinger replied. Although Vilkas would follow Kodlak with firm trust, he still wasn't sure the others would if it would mean sacrificing the beast.

Vilkas had only just finished his discussion with Kodlak before the newest Thane and his Housecarl Lydia had walked into the room. He visibly sneered when the man walked in because of his scent and was surprised to see that Kodlak didn't, despite the fact it was overpowering and felt dangerous. Then again, Kodlak was always a very calm and accepting person. Maybe too much so.

"Newcomer, did you come here to join the Companions?" Kodlak asked at his arrival.

"No, I only came by to see why you're supposedly so honourable," the man replied, glaring at the two of them as if there was already something about them he didn't like.

"That's as good a start as any. Here, let me have a look at you. Hmm. Yes, perhaps. A certain strength of spirit." The newcomer rolled his eyes as if to say he knew already. Could he really be that arrogant?

"Master, you're not truly considering accepting him?"

"I am nobody's master, Vilkas. And last I checked, we had some empty beds in Jorrvaskr for those with a fire burning in their hearts," Kodlak answered. He respected Kodlak, but you could hardly say there was a fire in this man's heart. He didn't even want to join.

"Apologies. But perhaps this isn't the time. I've never even heard of this outsider," Vilkas argued, trying desperately to find a way to refuse him.

"Sometimes the famous come to us. Sometimes men and women come to us to seek their fame. It makes no difference. What matters is their heart," Vilkas knew better than to keep trying to get rid of him. The Harbinger had made his mind up and there was no changing it.

"And their arm," he added.

"Of course. How are you in a battle, boy?" Kodlak inquired, now brought to the subject.

"You dare question my skill?" the man spat.

Vilkas considered lunging over and throttling him. How dare he talk to Kodlak like he were his elder. But before he could do anything Kodlak spoke up again.

"Calm down there, whelp. Don't feel like you need to show off for our sake. Vilkas, here, will be the one testing your mettle." Now it looked as if Kodlak was going to be throttled because the newcomer went completely silent at the name 'whelp', and Vilkas could see the anger flaring in his eyes.

Kodlak turned to Vilkas and broke the tense silence, "Vilkas, take him out to the yard and see what he can do."

_**Five more minutes later**_

Vilkas hadn't expected his first strike to be so powerful. It felt like a blow from ten men at once, staggering him almost instantly. What was worse than the actual collision was the smirk on his face. As if he thought he could do the same in proper combat and not just the practice swing he had given him.

"Wipe that smile off your face. One swing isn't enough to prove yourself. Now grab a shield, or you might get yourself injured," Vilkas told him, gesturing to the weapon rack that was clad with shields and weapons.

"No," Resh replied bluntly.

"What do you mean 'no'?" growled Vilkas, his anger showing at the man refusal to fight.

"I don't need a shield. They're for people either afraid of a bit of pain or unable to avoid an attack. Besides I have something that can actually help with a fight and requires skill to use." As he said this, flames sprung up in his bladeless hand. Vilkas was happy to know that he wasn't refusing the fight completely, but felt insulted that a fellow Nord would choose magic over a shield. He didn't deserve to be among honourable warriors such as himself and the other Companions.

"Fine, it's your loss. None of that magic, though. We're going to do this like real men of honour. Not like those milk drinkers up at the College." Vilkas smiled himself when his opponent's smug look of arrogance was quickly replaced with a frown at those words.

The fire extinguished in Resh's hand as the two prepared for their duel. And when Vilkas nodded to him to say he was ready, he lunged, throwing himself shoulder first at the smaller Nord, ready to use his other hand to slash after staggering or making Vilkas block.

Vilkas saw his plan, and realised that Resh wasn't concerned about getting an injury if it would result in the opportunity to finish the fight quickly. So instead of countering or blocking Vilkas jumped out of the way, avoiding the attack.

Resh quickly noticed that Vilkas understood his strategy of making a small sacrifice for a quick victory, and opted for another tactic. A tactic of waiting.

Vilkas thought he had his chance when the other man didn't try to strike. So he took a swing at Resh's chest, only to receive a jarring shock down his arm when his sword crashed down on his own with the same unnatural strength as the last time. That was the last thing Vilkas remembered before he received a punch to the face, downing him instantly.

He wasn't unconscious, but his vision was fuzzy and there was a searing pain in his cheek. By the time his vision had reverted to normal again, he felt the edge of a sword pressed against his neck, and a foot on his shield pinning his arms down against his prone form.

When Vilkas tried to struggle he felt the foot pushing on him press harder, making him gasp for breath.

"You submit," the man said. It wasn't a question, merely a declaration of the obvious when he wasn't able to escape. The pressure on his chest was released when Resh took his foot off him. Vilkas quickly rose from the floor and looked him over. He hadn't even broken a sweat, even through all of the sharp movements of the duel.

"You _might_ just make it. But for now, you're still a whelp to us, new blood. So you do what we tell you. Here's my sword. Go take it up to Eorlund to have it sharpened. And be careful. It's probably worth more than you are," Vilkas spoke with bitterness because of his quick defeat.

**Resh POV**

'_How dare that uncivilised, savage beast!_ _I am Tsaesci! He can't try to push me around! I'll rip his flesh off! I'll devour him! I'll skin him and his pack alive like the beasts they are!' _Resh was outraged that this 'Companion' could be so dishonourable to him when he had clearly been the victor of their duel. That this 'lesser race' could try to order him to do such menial tasks just because he _thought _he could.

He growled, wrenched the sword from Vilkas's hand and launched it over the walls of Whiterun, much to the shock of Vilkas, Lydia, and any others who were watching. It was even a shock to himself that he didn't just decapitate the cur there and then with his own sword.

"Fetch," Resh hissed, spitting at him in disgust. And with that he left, spouting curses and death threats in his wake, with his loyal Housecarl not far behind, and he didn't look back.

Resh stormed through the streets of Whiterun away from Jorrvaskr, regretting his passive retaliation. It would have been better to just kill them. Even so he could feel that he was gradually calming down, knowing that he didn't let any one of those beasts try to act above him.

Once he got to the city gates he had loosened up completely, letting his anger dissipate. His tranquillity didn't last for very long, as he tensed up all over again when he threw open the gates of the city and saw something that made all of his senses flare up.

Much to the surprise of his Housecarl, Resh nearly jumped out of skin when he saw a Khajit caravan outside the city. Resh had a firm grip on his sword, ready to kill before he realised that the group weren't Ka Po' Tun like he had thought, but were their weaker Tamrielic counterpart, the Khajit, and were just traders that wouldn't even know about the war between their distant cousins and the Tsaesci.

'_Hmm, those Khajit look delicious. Like Ka Po' Tun with more fur. I wonder if my promise to Ralof stretches so far as to include the beast races. I hope not."_ Resh hated Khajit, they reminded him too much of his people's main rival.

"Resh?" Lydia asked snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Yes? Did you need something?"

"No, I was just wondering why you were staring at those Khajit merchants."

"It doesn't matter…" Resh let out a sound that sounded like a low growl. "Remind me to stop by Riverwood when we leave."

**I think I've been neglecting the fact that the Tsaesci, Resh included, are all cannibals, so I may think about including more references to it in future. I think this will also be the last of the Companions for a while, I might go back to them but it's doubtful, if I do though I will definitely have to adapt the story a bit, because Resh would never become a Werewolf.**


	22. A Lesson In History

**Hey people, I have bad news, I decided not to have this chapter beta'd before putting it up, so it's probably full of errors and grammatical mistakes. It's alright though, future chapters will continue to be beta'd by my wonderful beta reader Ladydragon1316. Today is only different because she just got Skyrim, and I don't want to take any time out of her gameplay as she should enjoy it as much as possible.**

**Here is said chapter, it won't be my best because if aforementioned reasons.**

Lydia wondered why a few Khajit merchants prompted Resh to think about Riverwood, but decided it was probably best to wait until they got there to find out. It would only be a few hours walk. What she found even weirder about Resh's reaction to the Khajit was that he seemed scared to see them. Perhaps shocked was a better word. But even so, he still jumped out of his skin.

"I'm assuming that's going to be the last time you try to get involved with the Companions. Things don't seem to end well when you meet them." She didn't think that Resh's reaction to the Companions was very unexpected. After seeing some of the moods he could get into, she could see it coming when Vilkas tried to give him his sword.

Resh scowled. "They're like a Daedra infested mockery of the Syffim," he said, remembering the honourable group set up by a fellow Tsaesci on this continent.

"What's the Syffim?" Lydia asked. Resh was dumbfounded that she didn't know about them. He would have thought the first ever guild in Tamriel would be known by everyone, especially since they helped bring peace in a lawless world ruined by the war, and crime that followed.

"After a devastating war a Cyrodilic group of mercenaries called the Syffim-" Resh only got so far before Lydia interrupted.

"Cyrodilic mercenaries? That sounds a lot like the fighters guild," she pointed out. Resh's smile was pained, he was pleased that the Tsaescian guild was still around but slightly disappointed that the name had changed to something so generic.

"Regardless of the name, it was set up by the Tsaesci Potentate Versidue-Shaie to help maintain law when there was a lack of imperial force." Resh paused upon seeing the confusion on Lydia's face.

Resh realised that Lydia probably didn't know what a Potentate was, as Tamriel at the moment had a different form of governance.

"A Potentate is a type of monarchy," he told her.

"And a Tsaesci is…?"

Resh would have laughed if he hadn't been so insulted, he was in complete disbelief that people didn't know what his kind were even though they had influenced the entire continent so much.

"How can you not know?" Resh asked with a strained voice. "Do you know nothing about your history?"

Lydia shrugged, "Not really, I didn't think it was important. For instance, does it really matter what a Tsaesci is? They don't sound very important."

Resh's eye twitched in suppressed rage. "Oh so I guess giant, golden, immortal, shape-shifting, snakelike warriors aren't very important then?" he replied sarcastically, doing his best to hide his hurt expression at her lack of knowledge.

"No, not really, it's not like they matter to us."

Resh could almost feel the blood vessel snap behind his eye, it was like this woman was being insufferable just to spite him. _'How could someone be so ignorant?'_

"Of course they _matter,_" Resh spoke in a pained voice. "Without the Tsaesci there would be no Syf- Fighters guild. And then because of that, no other guilds. There would also be no Blades either." Resh sighed in exasperation after seeing Lydia face go blank again, and he added, "A group of highly trained Dragon slayers."

"If these _Tsaesci_ are so special why haven't I heard of them?"

"Because they live all the way over in Akavir and rarely come over here." Resh decided to leave out the part he was thinking about her being an uneducated savage.

"…Akavir?"

At that Resh buried his face in his palms. "You honestly don't know anything but how to swing a sword, do you? How in Oblivion could you not know that there is more than one continent?" Resh wondered if she knew that there was more to the world than just Skyrim. It wouldn't surprise him if she had never ventured from her town and its surrounding areas.

"Okay so there are two. It I'm sure lots of people don't know that," Lydia said in her defence. It wasn't a very good one.

"There are seven continents," he corrected.

Lydia stammered for words, trying to find something clever to throw back. "Shut up," she snapped after coming up with nothing and started to stride down the road in a huff.

Resh merely smirked at her anger. It was quite endearing coming from someone so much smaller than himself. He jogged to catch up but she didn't pay him any attention and just walked on.

After a while of walking in silence he actually started to worry about how much he had pissed Lydia off. He wondered if she was actually annoyed or just stopped speaking as there was nothing left to say. He hoped it was the latter, despite the fact she knew nothing of her history and had unknowingly insulted him multiple over the past few minutes. She had seemed like a relatively nice person, so he didn't really want to have upset her.

Resh had never really had to deal with trying to comfort upset humans, so he didn't really know where to begin. He barely even knew how to comfort upset Tsaesci. But that's more because they didn't often get upset nearly as often as these overly emotional uncivil-

He shook the last of that sentence out of his head after he realised that ridding himself of those kinds of thoughts was probably the first step.

"Lydia. Are you okay?" Resh figured that the second step would most likely be finding out if she was actually annoyed in the first place.

"I'm fine." She still sounded angry, but Resh didn't notice and he sighed with relief, glad that he didn't have to bother with any human drama. He had sighed too soon though, because she spoke up again. "It's nothing much, it's just… do you really think I know nothing but how to fight?"

'_Yes.'_

"No, I was exaggerating. I'm sure that's not your _only_ skill. Is there anything else you can do?" After that, Lydia went quiet again, trying to think about it. The wait lasted so long Resh decided to drop in some suggestions.

"Smithing?" Surely a swordswoman would know something about her weaponry.

"No." Evidently not.

"How about alchemy?"

"I tried it once, but everything I make is un-drinkable."

"Know anything about magic?" he asked in a last ditch attempt. She must know something. In Akavir, magic was taught to everyone because of its practical reasons not just combat abilities. Surely even these Nords must have some level of respect for it.

"Nothing at all," she replied grimly, voice laden with sorrow after realising she was almost completely useless.

Resh pinched the bridge of his nose. This was harder than he had thought. How could he possibly make someone feel better about themself when they had no skills? Especially if that were the reason they were upset.

"How about," Resh didn't really want to do this, but it was the only easy option he could think of, "I teach you magic. It's relatively easy to learn, and it can be useful even if you don't want it for combat."

"You really want to teach me how to use magic?" Lydia asked incredulously, a smile breaking out across her face.

"'Want' is a strong word. But it's always good to have a second skill set, so I might as well teach you something. When we get to Riverwood I'll show you something easy, like starting a fire or making a mage light." Lydia seemed to cheer up at that so Resh considered his job done for now. Although he regretted the decision of having to waste his time just to teach her. But after all, how hard could it be?

**Awww, Resh is being nice, begrudgingly it may be. Let's just hope this isn't an impossible task. **

**Everything in this chapter is all lore friendly, the Syffim were the original Fighters Guild, Tsaesci Potentate Versidue-Shaie set up the guild act which allows guilds to be made, and there are seven continents, despite the fact we're only ever on one, Tamriel. **

**All the Continents are: **

**- Tamriel (Where all the games are set)**

**- Akavir (Where the Tsaesci come from)**

**- Atmora**

**- Thras**

**- Yokuda (Or at least what's left of it after it was destroyed)**

**- Aldmeris**

**- Pyandonea**


	23. Reminiscing

**Here's another chapter for you people…**

**Lydia's POV**

"No! Try again. You're not doing it right!" Resh scolded for the thousandth time that evening.

It was becoming unbearable. They had been sitting in this tavern for hours and she still couldn't create one tiny flame and Resh was getting more and more infuriated. Lydia was close to just calling it quits and deciding she didn't want another skill.

"What do I have to do again?" Lydia sighed holding out her palm willing for a flame to appear.

"We just went over this. Will the flame to be in your hand and imagine that it's not you creating the fire, but the fire was already there. You're just a means for it to appear." she could see that Resh was holding back his anger when he spoke. The give-away was that he said it all through gritted teeth.

As if to demonstrate, her held his hand out and snapped his finger causing a large fire to start burning above his hand.

"Magical fire isn't just used for combat. I use it primarily for lighting torches and campfires. I also use it to keep warm when needed. Although it is quite satisfying to roast someone alive with your bare hands." Lydia could have sworn she saw a look of hunger flash across his eyes.

The flame in his hand shone brighter until it formed a bright white flame that made Lydia start to sweat despite the distance between them. It must have needed a lot of magic to be conjured.

"The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long," Resh said holding the bright light out in front of him as demonstration, before it flickered out. "The more powerful the flame I make, the quicker I run out of magicka. You probably won't ever have to create a flame that hot, and you probably won't be able to. It's taken me years of mastering the craft to make a flame that can melt steel."

It was Lydia's turn now. She calmed herself and tried to focus her mind by closing her eyes. Following all of Resh's steps she could feel something flowing through her. Not something physical, but it felt like it was there all along.

_'Is this what using magic feels like?' _Lydia thought excitedly.

It felt peaceful, like she was free of all constraints and pains. She felt the flow of magicka run down to her hand where she was willing the fire to be, although this time it didn't feel pleasant like before. Instead it felt warm. In fact it was getting hotter.

Lydia shrieked in pain and snapped her eyes open when her hand flared in agony. The skin had blackened and there were a few wisps of smoke rising from it. The magic was gone, but the searing pain was still there and was almost unbearable. And there was no way of stopping it. She looked to Resh for help, thinking he would know what to do.

"Try forming it above your hand. Perhaps saying 'in your hands' was misleading." He spoke as if it was just a minor nuisance getting in the way of the task, not the crippling injury to her sword hand it was.

"You don't say! You're a terrible teacher. I'm not trying that again! That really hurt!" she yelled at him cradling her burnt hand in pain.

_'Is that all you have?! Nothing to help me?!'_

"Hey, don't blame me. I'm not the one who can't cast a simple spell without ruining their hand," he replied with a smug look on his face. Lydia went to hit him but yelped when her ruined hand came into contact with his arm.

Resh looked over at his Housecarl's hand again and grimaced. "That looks painful. It's too bad healing isn't my strong suit."

Lydia glared at him. "Of course it's painful, you idiot! You've rendered my hand useless!" she shouted. Thane or not, she was going to kill him when her hand healed.

"I believe it was you who burnt your hand to a crisp. Anyway, I'm going to go talk to an old… friend. Just wait here and I'll be back soon."

"Aren't you going to do something?!" she pleaded, unable to lower her voice because of the pain coursing through her.

"As I said, there's nothing I can do. I can't heal people. You really should have planned this ahead," he muttered in the most condescending sounding voice she had ever heard before darting out of the tavern leaving her stranded there.

"You're an asshole!" she called out after him when he left. Lydia sighed. Calling her Thane names though wouldn't dull the pain. She needed alcohol, and lots of it.

**Resh's POV**

He wouldn't usually have left in such a hurry, but it was out of fear for his health. A similar thing happened when he first tried to teach Kayci magic. The only difference was that it was with ice magic instead of fire, and it resulted in minor frostbite and her snapping off a finger. That time he didn't think to escape and was knocked unconscious for a few hours by an angry nine fingered Tsaesci who didn't find his laughter as funny as he did. It was doubtful that his new human companion would even be able do the same thing, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

It didn't take long before he found Ralof in the small town. It was bright outside so he was still working at the mill he owned. When Ralof saw him, he looked shocked but got up quickly to meet him. The Nord had heard lots of rumours about the man. If any of them were true, it would be an honour to have him, the Dragonborn, in the town, let alone talk to him.

"Resh. What are you doing here?" Resh noted that he said these words with a small amount of apprehension. It was understandable though. People fear what is different to them.

"I have things to ask you, although we'll talk more of that later. I'll probably be here a while because of the injury Lydia _acquired_." He decided to leave out the part about how she acquired said injury.

"Lydia?" He smirked when he said her name. "Oh! Your Housecarl, I almost forgot." He hadn't forgotten, or even come close to. He had heard the rumours, as had everyone. Even in the secluded town in which he lived.

"I've been told she has to follow me everywhere because of my title in the city. Supposedly she has her uses, but as you can see I'm the one carrying everything." Resh waved the large pack full of food and other provisions he was holding and displayed the bedroll to prove his point.

"I've only known you to be in Skyrim for a couple of weeks and yet there's been so many rumours about you," Ralof exclaimed in surprise that someone could become so famous so quickly. "For example, the Companions in Whiterun aren't overly fond of you."

"I shouldn't think so. I threatened to kill someone called Aela and then kill the rest of her pack. And I threw the sword of someone called Vilkas over the walls of Whiterun because he was being a sore loser."

"Ooh, so that's how it happened. Vilkas has some new recruit running round the outside of Whiterun in circles looking for it. Apparently he joined right after you left." It all made sense now. Ralof was wondering how he lost it when it was one of his most prized possessions.

"I'm just wondering, but how do you know all this? It only happened this morning," Resh asked, confused that he could know so much in such a small amount of time.

"Skyrim has a very efficient courier. He sprints everywhere just to tell people these things." Ralof shook his head. Although the courier was helpful, he ran everywhere wearing very little clothing. And he didn't want that particular image to stay in his head.

Resh picked up on this and was confused, "Something wrong?"

"No, it's nothing. Anyway, what else has happened in your time around here?" Ralof asked, He wanted to know the whole story. It wasn't often a 'Dragonborn' passed through town.

**1 Hour Later**

"So you actually did kill a dragon?! That's amazing, what happened next? Is it true you're the Dragonborn?" Ralof was amazed at his story and felt like a child with all the questions he was asking.

He didn't know what he had done, but apparently Ralof had killed the mood completely as Resh had gone deadly silent.

"Don't call me that," Resh said quietly. "I've come close to killing people who have." Ralof was going to ask 'why' but held his tongue when he realised that he probably shouldn't piss off the man who had killed the first dragon seen in eras.

Resh turned to leave, but Ralof stopped him. "You said you had something to ask me."

Resh mentally slapped himself for almost forgetting the reason he came in the first place. "You know the promise I made to you about not eating any people?" Resh asked.

"Yes…" Ralof said grimly, not liking where the conversation was going.

"Does it count for all races or just Nords?" Resh felt silly asking about something trivial but he felt he needed to ask, just in case he was restraining himself for no reason.

Ralof paled. "Why…?"

"I saw some Khajit earlier today, and I thought to myself, 'Would Ralof care if I were to feast on them?' so I-"

"You didn't did you?" he asked, fear at what his friend had done creeping into his voice.

"No, I came over straight away to check with you first." Relief spread over Ralof's face. "Do you not know how long it would take me to skin _and _cook two fully grown Khajit?" he laughed. Then seeing the look on Ralof's face at what he had said, he realised that he did not.

"No, I don't. And I don't want to! No eating anyone! If it can it talk, don't eat it!" Ralof shouted. He didn't know much about Resh's people, but surely that was common knowledge. If not, it should be.

"Fine, but when I leave Skyrim, I'm doing what I want. Anyway, it's honestly been nice talking to someone who I don't have to hide what I am around, but I'm going to go make sure Lydia hasn't injured herself again. I'll be sure to talk to you again one day," Resh promise before turning to leave.

"Be sure not to eat her," Ralof muttered in response.

**Lydia's POV**

By the time Resh got back the tavern was buzzing with life and Lydia had somehow accumulated a small band of men that were fawning over her and trying to out-boast each other in order to win her attention.

With the alcohol flowing like a river, the last hour had been especially entertaining. Especially now that there were men pushing each other out of the way just to sit at the same table as her. When she noticed Resh walk through the door she motioned to him and announced.

"That's *hic*, that's the idiot who messed up my hand!" All the men looked over at the giant of a man who was slowly walking over. Lydia laughed as they all look at her hand and then shifted in their seats into a more defensive position. Then she remembered what she had just said and laughed even harder.

_'Divines! The way that sounded they probably think he did it on purpose.'_

When the men noticed her laughing most of them relaxed again, realising it was just a false alarm and that he wasn't really a danger. That was only most of them. She was about to greet Resh and introduce him to her new friends. But before she had a chance, one of the more drunk men of the lot had gotten up and marched up to him. Obviously he hadn't realised that Lydia wasn't angry at the man who had accidently hurt her, and still thought him a threat.

"So you're, *hic* you're the one who hurt Lydia *hic*," he slurred, looking up menacingly at the man who was a good foot and a half, maybe even two feet taller than the drunk Breton.

"It was her own fault. She did it to herself," he explained. Lydia buried her face in her hands, because that didn't make him sound like a woman beater at all.

She was going to intervene and straighten the whole situation out, but before she had a chance to the Bretons hand caught the side of Resh's face with a crack. The whole tavern went completely silent, and Resh looked more shocked than anyone at what had happened, as if he didn't believe it had. A punch like that, even from someone as _average _as the Breton, should have at least broken his nose, considering how vicious and unexpected it had been. But Resh seemed completely unharmed. Not even a red mark appearing where his hand had connected.

Suddenly, before she had a chance to blink, the shorter man was wrenched into the air and shoved with a loud 'crack' into the tavern wall. His howl in pain was cut short by Resh's hand closing around his neck and lifting him up to eye level. Resh glared into his eyes as he held him up, the man started to thrash around, trying to escape. But that was a farfetched dream. It didn't take long before he went bright red in the face and started to stop trying to fight back. She was certain Resh was going to kill him if she didn't do something quickly. Everyone else in the tavern seemed too scared to do anything but watch. Even her group of admirers stood silently. Some had even left the scene when no one was looking.

"Resh!" Lydia shouted. Trying to snap him out of whatever battle rage was clouding his judgment.

"Yeah? What?" he replied casually as if he weren't doing anything wrong.

"Put him down!" her anger had immediately sobered her up.

"Why should I?" he asked, confused that she was getting upset over a simple engagement such as a fight to the death.

"Because you'll kill him!" She was horrified when she realised that there was no angry haze making him do something he would regret. This was all him. He knew what he was doing, and was purposefully trying to kill him. It wasn't just some run of the mill bar fight.

"And…? He started this fight. Its common practice that I should finish when one of us is dead," he looked around the tavern and saw the fearful look in all its inhabitants' eyes. Evidently standard duelling was different in Tamriel than Akavir. Resh dropped the man to the floor where he fell ungracefully into unconsciousness. He took a few steps back and allowed a few of the other locals pick him up and drag him away.

"I'm sorry, people. Where I'm from, fights like this are settled differently than here," he announced before sitting over at the now vacant table Lydia was standing by and trying to avoid the awkward stares directed at him.

"What the fuck was that!" she snapped at him, striking him in the arm with her good hand as she did.

"I was unaware of local customs when it came to single combat," he muttered in response, ignoring her violent reaction. Because he most likely deserved it.

"That wasn't single combat. That was a drunken man being an idiot for my attention. You didn't have to try to kill him!"

"Fair enough, sorry for ruining the evening," he said quietly. It wasn't often Resh apologised. "Anyway, it's late now. So get some sleep and we'll leave in the morning. I'm going to go on a walk for the night. I won't be back until morning. If I stay here I'll probably be attacked by more villagers." He left quickly, probably in shame at her scolding.

It was only then Lydia realised she had no money to buy a room. The men she'd attracted had paid for her drinks, but Lydia herself was completely broke and now bed-less. She really was going to kill him now. If he hadn't scared the group off she would have had several beds to pick from, and a warm body to share it with. Now she would probably have to sleep outside.

**Life in Tamriel is so different to life in Akavir apparently. He's going to have a hard time adapting.**

**Like the last chapter I haven't had this one beta'd for the same reasons, so there should be lots more slightly less good quality chapters coming out. Still review though, I'd like to know what you think.**


	24. Apologies Are Hard To Find

**I didn't bother to get this one beta'd either, so here's another early chapter for you guys, as usual slightly worse quality with grammar and punctuation etc. **

**Another reason I'm bringing these chapters out quickly because I've decided to write more often during the day rather than leaving it until midnight. For various other reasons I was still very tired writing this chapter, so forgive me for any mistakes.**

**Resh POV**

'_How could I be so stupid? Of course their traditions are different. They know very little of the world and fear anything new and different to them. How could I even begin to think that they allow murder when in unprovoked combat?'_

Now he would be lucky if he could go back to that town without having an angry mob trying to kill the 'violent murderer.' He could always just change forms and then start on a clean slate. But then he would have to explain his new appearance to Lydia which wasn't something he particularly wanted to do, especially if he were to try and avoid lying.

He wondered if she was in any kind of danger because of what he did. For all he knew, they might blame her for his arrival. He doubted she was in trouble, though. And if she was, she could probably deal with the fallout herself.

Resh was also starting to worry about where she would sleep without any money and no bedroll, as he had it. He could go this whole night awake and not get tired. Although Lydia, as he had learnt, needed a great deal of sleep in order to function. Then again, she'd somehow managed to acquire free drinks the whole evening. So he had no doubts that if she really wanted to find a warm bed to sleep in, she would manage to.

The Tsaesci couldn't help but feel like he needed to find a better way to apologise. She had seemed quite annoyed at him. Resh sighed. Were all humans this emotional?

Maybe a gift was required. If he were to find something that could make up for almost killing an innocent on purpose, perhaps she would be less angry at him. The only problem was: what he could possibly get her? She wasn't a Tsaesci, so that meant all ideas he could think of were wasted.

If only she were an alchemist. Then he could just drain out some of his venom, and give that to her because of its magical properties. Maybe he should just collect his venom and then sell it. It would be easy to just get her a cash sum instead of something that required thought. Although, when he thought about it like that, it seemed emotionless and like he was trying to buy her favour.

Resh growled out loud. He hated having to put thought into things. It was absurd that he, a Tsaescian warrior, was putting emotions into finding a gift for a savage. Why hadn't he just killed her while he still didn't like having her around?

If he hadn't done such a poor job last time, Resh could have just tried teaching her magic as a gift. But Resh guessed that she would probably not want to try learning again after what had happened to her hand. He still had all the night ahead of him. So he was sure he could think of something in that time. Maybe he could raid a group of bandits or adventurers and see if they had anything of value he could give her, like a sword or a piece of jewellery of some kind.

Perhaps the gift of knowledge was something she would want. But what kind of knowledge? He doubted she would want to know anything about history, or anything remotely academic related. That was for the educated. She had taken an abnormal interest in himself though, asking unnecessary personal questions and trying at every opportunity to find things out about him. He could just let her ask any question she wanted and promise to answer it. He didn't really like the idea of opening up like that, but it was better than spending an entire night trying to think of a way to make things right between the two of them.

Resh was happy he had found an easy option which required no effort. He still had the whole night ahead of him though, and he needed to find something to do.

'_Who says I can't kill bandits for fun?'_

**In The Morning When Resh Gets To The Tavern **

Resh found Lydia where he had left her. She was in the same inn, but this time she was wrapped in a blanket, probably given by one of the tavern workers. She was also curled up by the fire for warmth. He was deciding whether he should come back later so he wouldn't disturb her sleep. But that was when she shifted and her eyes opened, landing on him in the same pissed off way they had last night. She got up immediately and stretched. He could hear the cracking of bones that came from a bad night's sleep. She was obviously annoyed at him about the sleeping arrangements he left her in, she was still in her armour and had no bedding. Lydia was not pleased.

"Killed anyone else recently?" she said maliciously. He decided to ignore her snide comment, true though it may be because of the bandits, and press on forward with his apology to get it out of the way.

"Lydia, I'm honestly sorry about what happened yesterday. I can't say I didn't mean to do it, because I was in fact going kill him. But if I had known it was something you didn't want me to do, I wouldn't have even tried." He spoke with genuine honesty and sincerity, as if he had tarnished his honour.

Lydia was visibly shocked at how sympathetic and sorry he was being, but quickly regained her composure and replied, "It's okay Resh, I forgive you. If where you're from things are done differently than here then it's understandable why you did what you did. I shouldn't be angry at you if you were raised that way."

"Irrelevant. I spent a good deal of time last night thinking of a gift I could get you to make up for it. But I didn't know what you would want in that aspect. So I've decided that, because you seem to insist on asking me personal questions and trying to find out about me, a good gift would be information. Feel free to ask me any _one_ question you want. As personal as you want and I'll give a direct answer. No mystery."

Lydia could see the amount of trust he'd placed in her with what he had offered. It made her proud that he wanted her forgiveness that much to offer something so personal. She wasn't going to waste this opportunity though. She had already thought of several questions to ask him. She needed more time to think of the right one, though. She couldn't waste this chance.

**As a fun little game PM me or write a review saying what you want her to ask, it can be anything, as long as it's not something that involves him answering and saying he's a Tsaesci, anything else though is fine.**

**IMPORTANT NEWS****: Last chapter you may have noticed that I briefly mentioned someone else having joint the Companions, that's mainly so I have an excuse not to do their quest-line, as I only really wanted to do the Main quest, the civil war and the mages guild. But I have a friend site (pen name Drew Ike Treboot) who is writing an Elder Scrolls Fanfiction like me. **

**We realised that so far we haven't written anything that clashes with each other's work, so because of this we might have one or two, maybe more if it goes well, cross over chapters. **

**So I would definitely suggest reading his story so you can better know his character, and what his character has done so future chapters make more sense if I include him, any quest-lines he has done will be ones I won't bother with.**

**This is all speculation though, although we want to, there may be a chance we don't get round to it. Anyway, sorry for the horrifically long Authors Note but I just wanted to let you know. Feel free to PM me or review about what you think of our plans.**

**The chapter has been beta'd now because she's back, as have all future chapters and the one previous to this one.**

**UPDATE- Talk of collaboration above will not happen**


	25. Some Scars Never Fade

**I've only noticed now that last chapter wasn't that long. It may have been about 1700 words in total, but I remembered that about 550 of those words were author's notes. So anyway, I'm sorry about that.**

**I got a few PM's about what Lydia should ask him, and I've decided that this one will probably be best.**

"Are you actually going to ask me something or are you going to stand there silent all day?" Resh asked, upon seeing the shocked expression on her face.

"Sorry. It's just that… you really don't have to do this if you don't want to. I understand if you'd prefer to keep your personal life private, so I don't want you to feel like you _have to_ tell me something." She may have wanted to know more about her Thane, but she also wanted him to like her and actually _want_ to share things with her. She didn't want to force information out of him.

"It's non-negotiable. Just ask me something now while I've promised that I won't get annoyed at the question."

Lydia was going to argue further, until the intelligent part of her brain cut in and reminded her not to ruin such a good opportunity. "I have loads of questions though. Can I have some time to decide what to ask?" If she was going to asking anything, one question was hardly enough.

"No. It's understandable why you have so many questions about me. I know how much of an enigma I am." He said it with pride, happy that he was so interesting.

Lydia remembered what she had once asked him to make him so furious, and decided she was still curious, so why not ask now? "I've actually tried asking you this before, but last time you came close to killing me." Lydia could have sworn she saw Resh shift uncomfortably at the mention of his anger and she took some sick form of satisfaction from his discomfort. "But I've got to know: why are you always so angry? It's as if every time you see anyone you get slightly more pissed off for no reason."

Resh sighed at the question, partly in relief, partly in annoyance. It would be a lot less damaging to his character than revealing his true self, but would also be a lot more difficult to explain.

When Resh started to explain his voice turned to a low hiss. "Almost a moon ago, I came to Skyrim. I saw some things that scarred me for life which I probably will never recover from they were so horrible. And made me rethink how I viewed all people. Nothing more than animals."

Lydia was silent, hanging on his every word, waiting for the more detailed account she expected. No such thing occurred though as Resh tried to change the subject. "So anyway… What's your past like? I'm sure there's lots of-"

Lydia saw what he was trying to do and quickly interjected before he could change the subject. "You said you would give me a proper _direct _answer, no mystery. That wasn't nearly good enough."

Resh growled, hating that he had been seen through so easily. "Fine," he hissed. "When I escaped Helgen, I had no idea what to do and found myself wandering. So I joined a group of bandits, not knowing what they were like." Resh shuddered in the middle of his story but carried on, "At first it was all going fine. We were getting along. I was starting to like them. Starting to become friends. That was until my first trip to Whiterun. There was a raid on a farm. It didn't take very long and the fight was disappointing."

Resh was now getting caught up in his own recollection, forgetting that Lydia was even there. "I heard a scream. It pierced the air. I assumed it was just someone scared of the shock of the raid, but I pushed open the door just to make sure. What I saw was horrible. It will haunt me for life. Knowing that someone can be do something like that honestly disgusts me how someone can be so dishonourable." Resh stammered a bit before carrying on, restraining his anger. "The bandit leader, someone I had almost considered a friend, he was… he was about to lay with a women who was unwilling. And he knew! I killed him before he did anything, of course, but what he did has left his mark on me."

"That's it?!" Lydia shouted incredulously. "You're scarred for life beyond repair because you saw an _attempted _rape?! Worse than that happens at your average festival when people drink too much." Lydia laughed and couldn't believe that someone like Resh could be so affected by something which was, unfortunately, part of life. Especially as he actually stopped it. It's not like he was forced to watch the whole scenario take place, or it happened to a loved one.

Resh did not find it as funny as Lydia did and scowled at her. "It's not funny," he snapped. "I didn't know that sort of thing happened."

"Have you been living under a rock your whole life? Did you honestly not know that's what bandits do to women?" Of course Lydia wished it never had to happen to anyone. But she had to take a few jabs at Resh, who was seemingly well educated in most things, but didn't know about something that was common knowledge.

"Where I'm from we don't have bandits. Unlike some, we're all civilised. I never even knew the word 'rape' until you had just said it. It just doesn't happen." Resh missed his home, where life was simple and honourable. But now he was stuck here because of who he was.

"No crime in an entire area? It sounds like paradise."

"Far from it," Resh muttered under his breath so she couldn't hear. Akavir was a war torn continent full of ice demons that could freeze a Tsaesci with a touch, and savage tiger beasts that consider themselves equal to his own kind and insisted on fighting back in their pointless wars. The worst part was that his species' war with the aforementioned Ka Po' Tun was starting to fall against their favour as well.

"Where are you from then?" Lydia asked at his silence, wondering where this crime free land she had never heard about was.

"I said you only get one personal question about me. Now let's get off this topic now," Resh told her, seeing if he could shut down the conversation. He was wrong.

Lydia smirked. "As you were so interested in my life earlier, trying to use it to divert the conversation, how about we talk about it now?"

Resh groaned. _'Why can't this woman just appreciate silence?'_

**I hope you all liked that chapter, feel free to tell me if so. I'm not sure if you like the chapters I sometimes write about developing characters as much as I like writing them. Even so, I'm still going to do some character development, but there will be more action and things actually happening in future.**

**Also, I have some very bad news for anyone currently enjoying my story. I have started something at my school called GCSE's (British equivalent of whatever they have in other countries), they are basically a lot of exams and coursework and stuff that's going to make me want to jump off a cliff. The bad news is that it will most likely occupy a lot of my time for the next year or so, so therefore I will either not have time to write any chapters because of school revision, or they will be few and far between.**


	26. Talking Things Over

**Hey people, here's another chapter, I'm trying to find time to write around my school revision I have to do, so I'll still be bringing out chapters when I can.**

He had known Lydia long enough to know that even if he didn't want to talk they would most likely end up doing so anyway. So he may as well get it over with.

"What's your family name? I'm surprised you haven't already told me considering how much you insist on talking." He decided that it was best to ask something he should have probably should have found out when he met her. Resh was surprised to see Lydia blush at his question. It was hardly an embarrassing thing to ask.

"I don't actually have a family name. I was left on the doorstep of the Whiterun Palace after I was born and there I was raised as a warrior. I have no family name, so I'm just 'Lydia of Whiterun.'"

He was confused at this. Why would she be named after a location? "Why are you embarrassed about it? There is nothing wrong with being a bastard," Resh asked. In Akavir, being born out of wedlock was not a problem. You just took the name of whoever raised you.

Lydia seemed to blush even more. "Maybe not from where you're from. When I lived in Whiterun, the other guards mocked me for it. They said I was probably an unwanted child of some… less respectable members of society."

Resh held back a growl and contemplated whether he should try to find these people and kill them. When he repeated what he had just thought over in his head he found himself surprised that he actually felt that protective of her.

Noticing his brief anger, Lydia decided to speak up again before he said anything violent that would spoil the conversation. "So anyway, what's your last name? I think it's only fair I know yours if you know mine."

"My last name is Resh," he replied in confusion. Why would she ask him something she already knew?

"Then why am I calling you Resh? That's so formal, what's your first name?"

Resh became even more confused at that. In Akavir the last name was the one that was personal to him. "My first name is Scaraviak," he answered.

"Would you prefer I called you that instead?"

"No. Why would you? That's my family name," he told her.

"That's odd. Your names are the wrong way round. Did you know that?"

Resh frowned at her words. Lydia was acting weirder every day. "I don't know what you mean by 'the wrong way round', but that's how my name has always been. Scaraviak-Resh. It's how it has been said by everyone I have known and the way I was raised saying it." Perhaps he should get Lydia checked for Brain Rot. He had heard of the many diseases that humans could contract. And judging from the way she sometimes acted, she could have a mild form of it.

He was about to bring it up before he realised that they should probably leave the tavern they were talking in. The commotion that he had caused yesterday hadn't gone unnoticed, and one of the locals had recognised him and was staring daggers at him. Resh wasn't afraid, knowing he could easily rip the man's skull from his spine if he tried anything. But he would rather try to avoid conflict in this little village from now on. Lydia realised the same thing he did when he started to leave, and quickly followed him out.

"That was probably a wise choice," she said as they began walking up the road for the start of their long journey to Winterhold.

"Of course it was. I was the one who made it. It seemed better than killing him just because he looked at me," Resh explained dryly.

"Anything else you want to ask me?" Lydia asked half-heartedly, not expecting his answer to be anything but a 'no' seeing as he wasn't overly fond of talking.

What came next was much to her surprise. "Actually, yes. How can you be so unaffected by all the horrible things that go on around you?" Resh sighed. "You didn't come close to expressing the sort of emotions I would have thought you would when I told you about the things I saw. Especially considering in that sort of… situation, it would be someone like you that is usually the victim."

Lydia frowned, she hadn't expected him to have been so affected by what he had seen. It hadn't seemed like much to her, but it was clearly something that troubled him greatly. She honestly couldn't understand how someone so _un_-innocent like Resh could at the same time be the _most_ innocent person she had ever met.

"Well… I'm unaffected because it doesn't affect me…" Lydia explained. But upon seeing the look of disgust form on Resh's face, realised that what she had said may have come out wrong. "I mean, of course things like that are sad and horrible, and I wouldn't wish anything like that to happen to anyone. You've just got to learn not to dwell on it too much and be thankful that only a few suffer and that it's not yourself."

Resh still wasn't entirely happy with her answer. "But what about the people it does happen to? Why don't you always feel awful that there's nothing you can do to help all these people? I was happy thinking that there was never anything _that_ awful that happened in the world. But now I just feel useless that I can't help."

"That's the thing though. You can help. I became a warrior so I could help people in situations like that. And you, you saw an attempt of rape and you straight away stopped it. People _are_ helping. People like _us _are actually making the world better. You're definitely not useless."

Resh thought about it for a while and then his look of sadness about this topic seemed to dissipate, "Thank you, this talk was… worth having. You've made me feel Tsa- human again. It's nice to have a… friend to talk to about things."

"And then you've also got to remember that I'm not like some women. I'm not going to lay back and take it without a fight," she laughed to add some humour into the conversation, and it seemed to have worked. She could have sworn his usual annoyed expression seemed a slight bit less annoyed than usual and that there was a ghost of an expression that seemed somewhat … happy.

She hoped it would stay like that.

**Please review if you enjoyed, I would love to hear what you thought. **

**One a more serious note my friend who is on this site by the pen name 'Drew Ike Treboot' just went into hospital a few days ago to have some surgery and is recovering as we speak, so I hope he is getting well. I just felt like leaving that message here as it seemed important.**


	27. Resh Hates Snow

**Just to let you know I have decided not to make this a collaborative FanFiction as I had mentioned a few weeks ago. Me and the friend I said I'd merge stories with decided it would be too difficult and that we would probably spend too much time arguing over whose characters are better. **

The two had been walking from Riverwood for a few days now and it seemed that ever since they reached the snow, they were getting nowhere. Lydia could hardly believe that it would slow them down this much. They had barely even entered the Pale before Resh had to keep making stops and starting fires to keep warm.

Surely as a fellow Nord he should be able to easily travel through blizzards like she could. In fact, due to his huge size he should be even better than herself. However that was not the case, and a journey that should take about four days was looking like it would take considerably longer. Perhaps even weeks. Maybe he was right when he bought so much food.

Resh growled as he tripped on some of the snow and fell face first into a snow bank. Lydia was going to laugh but quickly held her tongue as her Thane yelled out a string of curses and started muttering something about spending more time in the sun. Judging by the fact that he didn't seem quite able to move without shivering, Lydia assumed that it was time for _another_ rest.

She knew exactly where they were. She had been tasked with map reading now that Resh seemed unable to do anything. They were near the giant camp 'Blizzard Rest', a place in which she had travelled a few times when she was a soldier. The giant there was more than a match for the two of them in their current state, but luckily it was usually docile and would keep to itself as long as it was left alone. But when she saw Resh stare at it sizing it up despite his inability to walk properly, she knew she had to do something to stop him making a bad decision.

"Resh." He ignored her, still watching the monster intently with sharp eyes. "Resh!" she snapped, grabbing his attention with a sharp slap to the shoulder.

Resh growled "What?!"

"Are you honestly thinking about attacking that thing _now_? You can barely even stand up let alone fight something that large."

He looked indignant at that and tried to stand, but seemed too frozen by the cold to do so. "It has a fire though, a proper fire. One that could actually keep me warm and stop me dying within the next few days. Besides, grab a bow and some arrows out of our supplies. That way I don't even need to stand up."

She pulled out the weapon, but still looked doubtful and didn't hand it over. "Resh, however much skill I'm sure you have with archery, I honestly don't think you can kill a giant with a few iron arrows and a weak bow. Especially from such a weak vantage point. Let me do it. I'll just hide somewhere better and shoot it from there. I still don't think it will work, though."

"No. We're doing it my way. Now give me the bow. I'm not the best shot because I didn't spend any time practicing archery. But I'm sure I can get it with at least one arrow."

Lydia sighed and handed him the weapon. One arrow wasn't going to do much, but maybe if he wasn't so good at aiming he might not hit it with any of them, and lose all the arrows. Maybe that would make him give up with this pointless venture. Lydia managed to contain herself. But it was laughable watching such a huge man shivering all over in a little bit of snow trying to move into a position where he could aim. As well as this, the bow seemed far too small for him to use properly which made it even more funny. The last straw came when he started to run the blade of the arrows through his mouth coating the edge with spit. The cold had clearly rendered him insane and she burst out laughing.

"What are you doing?" she asked looking at him as if he'd grown a second head.

"I'm preparing obviously," he replied pulling a third arrow out of his mouth.

She could have sworn that the saliva covering the spike of the arrow had a slight reddish tinge. It must have been blood from his mouth. She was going to ask if he was okay but before she had a chance an arrow whizzed past her head embedding itself in the snow far from where the giant was standing. Luckily because the shot was so terribly off mark the giant hadn't noticed. Either that or it didn't think he was a problem. Lydia drew her sword this time, just in case this time it was alerted by his next arrow. She just hoped all of his shots would be like that and they could write this off as a lost cause.

Unfortunately his next arrow actually hit the target. In fact, hit was a strong word. 'Glanced off its leg and into the snow' was probably more appropriate. Because of Resh's angle and his inability to stand and draw the bow properly, the arrow hardly cut the giant at all, making an almost un-noticeable scratch on its leg which even the giant barely reacted to. It noticed enough though and the giant looked straight at them. Lydia thought that they were dead for sure. Huddled in the snow like they were, they wouldn't stand a chance and would easily be trampled by the lumbering monster that was now walking over to them. Why she even let Resh try his stupid plan she didn't know. The worst part was that he didn't even care that they were most likely going to die soon and was just smirking at the thrashing beast.

'_Wait, why is it thrashing like that? It should have reached us by now.' _Lydia was awestruck when the beast fell to the floor and started to convulse, as if a giant frostbite spider had bitten it. 

"What was that?" Lydia asked incredulously, watching the giant stop moving and die on the floor.

"What do you mean 'what was that'?" he replied, wondering what she was confused about. In a situation like that he didn't have much of a choice despite the fact it wasn't very pleasant.

"You just killed a giant with a single poorly placed iron arrow."

Resh frowned at the words 'poorly placed' but couldn't really argue with it. He had never been too good at archery. Suddenly it clicked and Resh remembered mammals didn't have venom like him. Wow, he must have looked like an idiot to any non-Tsaesci when he was poisoning the arrows. Even so, it was worth it. Tsaesci venom is extremely lethal when it got into the blood stream, and it was his only chance to kill it to take its camp and, more importantly, its massive fire.

Just the thought of the fire managed to make Resh drag himself out of the snow. He ignored the shivering running down his spine and the chances of frostbite getting increasingly higher and managed to stumble his way into the camp. He noticed Lydia pick up his discarded bow and follow him over, not affected in the least by the cold. Unlike him. Resh almost wished he was actually a Nord. Then he would be able to survive this horrific weather like she could, instead of having to huddle by the fire like he now was.

Lydia looked at him innocently and smirked, "Cold?"

He only glared back.

"I guess I'll just have to assume that's a 'no'. Let's get going then." She knew he wouldn't dream of standing up and walking through blizzards now that he had found a warm fire. But she just wanted to see the look on his face when she tugged on his arm.

"I am in no mood for jokes Lydia. Now sit down. We'll camp here for a few days." Resh needed the time to heat up by the fire. He was an idiot for not trying to bask in the sun before the trip. He could have died from his lack of forethought.

"A few days?! That'll be awful. We won't have anything to do and it will be boring." She could understand staying for the afternoon, or maybe even overnight if it was needed. But to stay more than an entire day, maybe even more than two whole days, seemed terrible.

"Well, I'm going to be sleeping by the fire for at least two days. You can do whatever you want. Although making sure I don't get killed in my sleep by wolves should be somewhere on your list of things to do." And at that Resh stood up and stripped off all his clothing without warning, causing a now blushing Lydia to look away as quickly as she could before she had a chance to stare and most likely get caught doing so.

He lay so close to the fire Lydia was surprised he wasn't burning from the heat. Also, if he were to roll in his sleep or move he could fall into the fire itself. Even though he wanted to stay warm, that might be a bit too much for him.

Resh fell asleep immediately. And Lydia didn't even have a chance to tell him how inappropriate it was to disrobe so suddenly without telling her. It was not like she was going to though. However shameful it was, Lydia was going to have fun _watching _over him for the next couple of days. Maybe she would find her own way to make sure things didn't get boring.

**I have good news, I just did a few of my mock GCSE's at school and I did pretty well (English-A*, Geography- A, R.E- A*) although that's not all of them, so I still have to do revision. **

**Also I was PM'd by someone about why my story is called 'Those Snake Folk', that is due to the fact that in one of the in-game books they are mentioned as serpentine folk, and then when I was trying to remember what it said I got it slightly wrong, thus the creation of my Fanfic name.**


	28. Scales In All The Right Places

**Hey people, in this chapter there will be flashbacks of a sexual nature. This is going to be the first time I've tried to write proper sex, so forgive me if it's not very good. Also flash backs will be in italics, and anything that's meant to be said in Tsaescian will begin with a "*" and end with a "*". **

He had only been asleep for an hour and Lydia was already bored. Fair enough, enjoying the _view _had been nice at first. But there's only so long you can watch someone sleep before it starts to seem creepy.

_Black Marsh was warm this time of day. Damp. Always damp, but still very warm. It was one of the few Tamrielic countries Resh actually liked. He felt at home in the large towns full of lizards. Unfortunately, he wasn't going to be able to enjoy such an evening because unlike the others in his scouting party who were hunting, he had to stay behind and write a mind numbing report about what the group had found out about the country._

*_Just cause I'm the 'scholar' of the group doesn't mean I should miss out on all the fun…,_* _Resh continued muttering to himself, cursing Kayci's choice of giving him this job._-

Resh mumbled in a strange language as he started turning and rolling in his sleep. At first Lydia thought he was having a bad dream about fighting someone unarmed, and was going to wake him up so he didn't fall into the fire. But she stopped when she heard in amongst the weird hissing language him say something that sounded like the name "Kayce." It seemed his dream was going to be a lot more enlightening about his past than she had thought.

-*Oh! _K-Kayce, what are you doing here? I thought you would be out in the swamps hunting with the others,_* _he stammered, not having noticed the party leader sneak up on him from behind. He had had a crush on his old friend for years now and desperately wished that she hadn't heard him speak ill of her._

*_I'm not going to leave my favourite guy all alone in camp while I go and have fun. You know I'm not that sort of person. And for the last time, can you stop calling me Kayce?! We've known each other since hatchlings and after all these years you still don't call me Kayci! As your commanding officer I order you to call me by my name!_*

*_When has that ever stopped me? 'Kayce',_* _Resh laughed, knowing she wasn't really annoyed after seeing her own laugh._

*_You know Resh, talking about 'me' being a higher rank than 'you', I do believe ignoring an order from a commanding officer is a crime punishable by execution._*

*_Execute me? But who will be even half as great as me to take my place?_* _he replied innocently._

*_You do raise a good point… What would I do without you? You know… I'm sure we can think of a different kind of 'punishment,'_* _she replied in a sultry tone, slithering closer to him so she was leaning into him, pressing her body up close._

_Resh blinked, could this really be happening or was he just imagining things? No, of course not. They were friends. He was probably just misreading the situation._

_He coughed. _*_Well, whatever you choose to do, I'm sure it's going to be necessary._*_Kayci wasn't pleased with his reaction and pressed even closer to him so he could clearly feel her breasts against him. Resh shifted to the left, turning his hardening member away from her in hopes she wouldn't notice._

*_Resh._*_Kayci said sternly. _*_Don't try to pretend you don't know what's going on here._*_ He went to speak but before he did Kayci grasped his now solid cock, causing him to groan at the feeling._

Lydia couldn't believe what she heard. Did Resh just make a sex noise? She smirked. When he woke up she was going to tease him mercilessly for this. Of course, she was going to wait until he woke on his own though. She wasn't going to end this little show early.

*_Are you sure you want to do this? We've been friends for centuries and this could ruin things,_*_Resh said, just making sure that they weren't making a terrible decision._

*_Of course we're doing this. I've seen the way you look at me. And after all the work you do, I think you deserve a reward of some kind._* _She lifted her head up to Resh's and pulled him into deep kiss, rolling his manhood in her hand making him growl out loud._

_A horrible thought occurred: what if there could still be people around to hear him. _*_What if someone hears?_*_ Resh worried out loud, inciting a laugh from the woman._

*_There's a reason why I sent the others off and stayed behind, Resh…_* _she whispered seductively._

*_You planned this! And here I thought you were nothing but a woman who could throw a few good punches and had scales in all the right places,_* _Resh joked. It was unusual seeing Kayci plan something ahead. She only ever did that when it was important._

The sight of her _naked_ Thane writhing on the floor making all sorts of noises was more than enough to get Lydia hot and she could feel a wetness forming between her legs. It was scary, thinking he could wake up at any time and see her. But she couldn't bear it any longer and shoved a hand down he lower armour, pretending she was the one making him moan in pleasure.

_It didn't take long before they had both stripped out of their armour. Kayci already wasn't wearing too much. Probably part of her act to seduce him, so Resh tore it off her within seconds leaving her bare for him to admire. He had dreamt about this for so long, but already his fantasies were nothing compared to reality as he took in as much of the beautiful sight in front of him as he could._

_Neither of them could bear the wait any longer and Kayci leapt at him, tackling him to the floor. But he was having none of was no way he was letting her on top. Resh pushed her back so she was now the one underneath him. She tried to fight back for the control, but he held her down harder by the wrists so all she could do was squirm and arch her back in pleasure below him._

*_Oh Kayce, just because you can fight better than me doesn't mean you can overpower me,_* _he laughed using his superior weight and strength to pin her. She tried to roll him onto his back but he quickly wrapped his thick golden tail around her own so they were completely entwined. Kayci gasped with pleasure as he held her stiffly in place so she was completely at his mercy._

*_Just fuck me already!_*_ she snapped, tired of waiting. _*_That's an order._*

_Resh ignored her and carried on with his little speech._*_It feels good being in charge of my superior,_*_ he growled, teasing her entrance with his tip._ *_Knowing that she's all mine. That she wants me so much she tries to order me, when all she has to do is beg._*

_Resh smirked at her reaction, the indignant look on her face mixed with the strain of pleasure as he brushed over her sex again._

*_Resh, I'm not begging you for anyth-_* _She was cut off by his finger pushing in between her slick folds eliciting a loud moan that could most likely be heard for miles._

*_Go on, Kayce. Say 'please', say 'please Resh, you should be my superior, I belong to you, please fuck me.' _*_Resh hoped she would hurry up and give in. There was only so much he could take before he would snap and claim her right then._

*_Its- Kayci- not- Kayce!_* _she moaned in-between gasps of pleasure as he ran his hand along her clit, the other still holding her in place so she couldn't try and ease her pleasure herself ._

*_Say it._*

*_Fine! Please, Resh, please fuck me._*

_With that Resh finally let go and thrust into her, causing her to scream in ecstasy, Resh winced at the noise. He had no doubt that the others had probably heard her, no matter how far away they were hunting. But after hearing the moan that escaped from himself at the feeling of her tightness, he no longer cared._

Lydia couldn't hold it in anymore and moaned as her hand was coated in her own juices. Even though she was loud, the sounds coming from Resh were far louder and it got her wondering how good he really was at sex. She quickly got up and wiped her hand clean to hide any traces of what she had done. It would most likely be a while before Resh woke but still. She didn't want him to catch her with a hand down her armour.

About ten minutes later, when she was sure there was no evidence of her deed, she looked over to where Resh was sleeping. He was still asleep, but now he was no longer thrusting and moaning. Just mumbling to himself in that hissing language again.

*_That was amazing,_*_ Kayci breathed, still coming down from her climax._

*_You know. I should do paperwork more often. To say the least, I thoroughly enjoyed my reward,_* _he smirked, rolling off her and uncoiling their tails, releasing her wrists and relinquishing his dominance. _

_It was going to take Resh a long time to think of her as his master now. The idea of her being in charge of him from now on seemed like an odd prospect after what had just happened. She didn't seem very 'in control' now. Especially as he could see his seed running down her tail._

**That was a delightful bit of snake porn wasn't it? I found it pretty damn hot, so I hope you did too. Please tell me what thought of it through reviews, I want to know if my first smut chapter was any good.**


	29. Oblivious

**Hey, I'm going to try and allot some time every night to writing so I bring out chapters much more frequently. So please enjoy this one.**

Resh woke to the most satisfying feeling he had had in a while, warmth. It was like he was back in Akavir again. It would appear sleeping in front of a red hot fire for a few hours heats you up quicker than Resh had expected. Perhaps giants fuel their fires with something that burns brighter. Maybe mammoth fat? That wasn't the best part of his feeling though. He greatly enjoyed the dream he had. It made him remember one of the better points in his life. It seemed he was going to have to change quickly though, lest Lydia see the result on his body his dream had made.

The moment he started to pull his armour back on Lydia came into view from the other side of camp. Luckily he had finished putting on the bottom pieces of armour, hiding certain parts that needed to be hidden. Judging from where she walked over from, Lydia had spent the last few hours sitting on the edge of the camp making sure nothing got in. Maybe she was quite a good companion after all if she was that attentive to her work. When she got closer Resh noticed that she was carrying a strange scent, similar to the one she had in Ivarstead when he woke her up in the morning. But he discarded it as some form of unique 'human smell' he wouldn't know anything about, nor need to.

Before he had a chance to announce that they were leaving, Lydia spoke up first. It seemed that she was trying to contain her laughter at something. "Have a nice dream?"

Resh blinked in confusion before the horrific realisation dawned on him. He must have spoken in his sleep. He glared at her grinning face, knowing full well what she was obviously hinting at. "What!?" he hissed.

"Well… when you were asleep you made a few… noises. And it sounded like you were having a very good dream," Lydia replied with a smirk, all the time smiling sweetly.

Resh sighed. It's not like he should feel embarrassed. There's nothing wrong with what he did. It's just he'd rather not have given Lydia something else to constantly ask about.

"Yes, you caught me. I was having a sex dream. Happy?"

It would appear Lydia was not happy with his answer. Not yet at least. She planned on drawing this out. "I didn't know the language you were speaking in, but there was an awful lot of growling and moaning. It went on for quite a while."

It was now Resh's turn to grin. Of course he lasted a long time. Practice makes perfect, and he'd had a few centuries of practice before that day. "If you must know, I used to have a very… active sex life when I was with Kayce. And I was reliving our first time together." Resh usually wouldn't have elaborated. But to be honest he was actually very proud about what he had done, even all these years after. And, surprisingly, remembering their good times together wasn't nearly as painful as he thought it would be. In fact, it didn't make him sad at all. Besides he knew Lydia well enough that no harm would come of telling her. And as he considered her a friend, he guessed it would be nice to have someone to talk to about this kind of thing again.

Lydia, despite being jealous of Resh's old lover, was overjoyed nonetheless to be talking to Resh about something this private. He must have really trusted her and thought of her as a friend. Too bad that was it.

"I'm not sure if I'm correct to assume this, but the hissing language you were speaking sounded worried at one point. What's the reason behind that? It sounds interesting."

Resh laughed at that. "It was so the others in the party, who Kayce had _conveniently_ sent out hunting beforehand, wouldn't see us. It didn't really work though because they all heard the noise we made from miles away."

Lydia noticed by the way he said 'conveniently' she was probably planning ahead behind his back. She must have been really sure that she was going to get laid. "Why were you trying to be so secretive about it?"

"Ordinarily any kind of a relationship where I'm from wouldn't be an issue to anyone. But we had been friends as well and the others already thought I was getting preferential treatment by Kayci, the group leader, because of that. The fact that we were in a _closer _relationship would only make them suspect it even more," he explained. It turned out they were just worrying over nothing.

"What happened when they found out?" she asked.

"Nothing really. We were wrong about what they would think and they all seemed pretty fine with our relationship. I got quite a few congratulations from the rest of the group about my _accomplishment _as well. Of course, it gave them a means to tease us constantly. And at every opportunity they would try to find a way to make us spend more time together. There were a few times where the others had tried to _join in _with us, where I'm from relationships are often in groups larger than two. But we decided to keep it between just the two of us, despite Kayce's relatively promiscuous nature."

"Promiscuous? How so?" Lydia asked. Surely the commanding officer in a group of soldiers had to be sensible and un-scandalous in order to be taken seriously?

"There's nothing wrong with it. What people do is up to them. But Kayce had sex with _a lot_ of people, regardless of _race_, sex or fighting skill. And the fact that she stayed exclusive for me was something to be proud of." Resh focused more on the word 'race' than anything else. Lydia just guessed it had something to do with Nordic racism that most Nords, minus herself, seemed to have. Of course Lydia was unaware it was down to Tsaesci racism instead and that she, too, fit into the criteria that he would have had something wrong with.

Lydia started to think that if she were to try talking about her own sex life, Resh would _finally_ start to realise her intentions. Or at the very least start to think of her in a sexual way. At the moment, he hadn't noticed her in the slightest.

So Lydia put on her sexiest voice and got to work, "You know Resh, I agree with you there. Nothing wrong with sleeping around. I for one enjoy a bit of _stress relief_ myself every so often. Of course there isn't really anyone I know who's up for that sort of thing…" She looked up hopefully at Resh, giving a full view of her cleavage hoping she had gotten his attention.

"Huh? Maybe on our travels we could find someone to come with us and… satisfy your needs." Resh had almost forgotten that his follower had a sex drive too. Perhaps next time they pass a city or town they could hire a mercenary as well. They would probably be more than happy to serve as a bed mate for Lydia as well.

"That's not what I meant Resh," she replied, taking one last chance and stepping closer to give him a better view of her breasts. Which he was still ignoring!

"What did you mean then?" Resh asked, still, _somehow_, looking confused and oblivious to what was happening around him.

Lydia sighed, "It doesn't matter, let's just get going," Resh knew that he was probably missing something important but decided not to pry and just packed up the rest of the stuff, now warm enough to continue walking.

**I'm not sure if I got out of hand talking about relationships in this chapter and made it seem unlike Resh's character, but I was already halfway through when I started thinking about it so I guess this is just how it's going to be.**

**I am currently releasing a prequel for this story, it explains the first 200 years of Resh's life this will set him 12 years before the oblivion crisis, and then I will bring out a proper prequel. So check my account page to see it in my story section.**

**It won't be very long though, it's basically a short paragraph for every year of early Resh's life, whenever it's something especially interesting I'll make it a bit longer. It's just going to explain a bit about his past without going into too much detail.**


	30. Warming Up

**Another Chapter here…**

The next few days of their travelling had gone well, especially now Resh had warmed up. Still slower than it would have taken Lydia on her own, but it was going better than it had before and she thanked the Divines for that at least. Although she was actually pleased they were getting somewhere. At this point they were probably only a day's travel from Winterhold, Lydia still couldn't bear that their resting times were so erratic. It seemed that Resh would completely forget that she needed food and sleep, and continue walking for days at a time until she had to ask to stop, making her seem weak.

Unfortunately their recent success was short lived, Winterhold had always been a very cold and snowy continent, and after resting by the fire Resh seemed to be able to put up with it. That was until the blizzard started.

He seemed fine at first, maybe lagging a few steps behind her when they walked. But there were no vocal complaints and he kept a relatively steady pace. It wasn't until after 15 minutes when she started to lose him in the snow did she worry. She looked back to see him stumbling behind in the distance. She had seen him shiver a bit when walking and thought nothing of it. But now, after seeing the violent shakes he had, Lydia knew something seriously wasn't right.

Lydia went over to him and tried to help him walk by hoisting one of his arms over her shoulders. But he was too heavy for it to work properly, weighing considerably more than someone, even his huge size, should weigh.

It became clear that he wasn't going to be able to continue in this blizzard when I started to stagger completely off track while walking, the bombardment of snow and cold air causing his breathing to become laboured and his steps to become slower and less coordinated. Scanning the surrounding for a place to set up camp and wait out the blizzard Lydia could see nothing but the opening for a small cave. Not even that, more a crack in the rocks barely big enough to fit inside. It would have to do though.

Summoning up the last of her strength she dragged her lumbering, almost passed out Thane to the gap in the rocks and pushed him in, shielding him from the blizzard. The space was cramped. Not too cramped to move around, but cramped enough that there was nowhere to really move to. Being a soldier she had often needed to escort people through the cold environment, and knew exactly what to do in this situation. So, without warning, Lydia started to strip off Resh's wet clothes so that his body temperature could start to heat up without the constant cooling effect of the dampness. She didn't get very far before Resh's eyes popped out of his head and he used his remaining strength to throw her off.

"What are you doing?!" he yelled, still able to hold her back despite his convulsing in his layers of wet clothing.

"I'm stopping you from dying. Now take off those wet clothes or you won't heat up quickly and you'll get hypothermia."

Resh considered what she said for a few seconds before replying. "Fine," he grumbled, seeing her _small_ amount of logic. "But I still don't see how I'm going to heat up." Being cold blooded it was going to take a lot more than removing wet clothing to save him.

"Well that's simple. You need heat. But as there's no fire here, you need a different source of it…" That's all Lydia said before she started taking off her own clothes and moving closer to him.

"Get off me," he commanded as she climbed onto him, finishing her stripping out of her own clothes. It held no power though as he was easily overpowered by the woman who was half his size.

"No. You need my body heat to warm you up, or you'll die," Lydia spoke seriously before wrapping herself around him, covering as much as possible. Resh merely growled in response, as if unable to word his irritation at her helping him.

However much she would have wished this were a sexual experience and not just a 'naked hugging necessity', Lydia got her priorities in order quickly and put all her lusts to the side. This wasn't the first time Lydia had shared body heat with someone in order for them to live. Although the other person being a Nord was definitely a new experience. Every other Nord she had met seemed to be able to survive the freezing conditions as well as she did.

After what seemed like hours, but was more likely only about 20 minutes Resh had finally stopped hissing and growling, and seemed to finally accept his fate. He was still freezing cold and shivering, but it would take a while for that to stop. Usually a few hours. But as Resh didn't seem to be warming up nearly as quickly as most others do, it would probably take all night. It took another 15 minutes before Resh stopped struggling in discomfort and shifting against her. Instead he just lay back and started to let his mind shut down, feeling his body cease to work, before he fell away into blackness.

"Lydia?" she heard Resh ask weakly, as another convulsion shook through him causing his mind to start working again before he fell under.

"Yes?" she answered slowly, wanting desperately for him to just stop shaking and rest.

"Don't leave me here when I die," he whispered in a voice that seemed scared, still freezing cold.

Lydia was shocked at his words. He seemed so sure he was going to die. It was like he had no hope. "Resh, you're not going to die. And even if you were, I would never just leave you here to be lost in the snow."

Resh seemed pleased with her answer and started to drift to sleep, where he started muttering incoherent nonsense, even though it was in her own language it still didn't make that much sense. She thought she heard something along the lines of "Putting his body to good use to pass on," and "Feasting on him," when she pieced together his words, but laughed at how mistaken she must have been to think he had said that. There was one thing she had definitely heard him say despite his weak and muffled voice, "Thank… You…"

**D'awwww, what a sweet chapter ending. What a horrible fate that Resh has to endure, being forced to sleep naked with a beautiful woman. The Horrors!**

**I hope you all liked that chapter, I wonder if Lydia's imagination will run wild in her sleep? It probably will knowing how her 'ways' can be.**


	31. Awkward Everywhere

**Here's another chapter, I've decided that every night I'm going to spend a few hours writing. It's worked well for the last few weeks as I have brought out considerably more chapters than usual. So I hope you enjoy my frequent updates.**

**Lydia POV**

It had been a peaceful sleep for Lydia during the night. She had almost forgotten that she was wrapped naked around her equally naked Thane, who was now warm again, pressed up against him unknowingly in her sleep. It wasn't until she woke that she realised how awkward the situation was. Thankfully Resh was still asleep and didn't notice how close their 'parts' were to touching.

Lydia was about to try and shift away but stopped after he started to mumble when she moved. It was like trying to sneak away from a sleeping lover. After a few more unsuccessful attempts at moving, Lydia decided that instead of try to move away completely it would be better to just pivot away from him.

The reaction to that was rather unexpected. When she tried to move her hips, Resh mumbled a bit more and pulled her closer with his arms. She tried to pull back, but even in his sleep Resh was far stronger than her and she was now pulled into a spooning position. Resh smiled in his sleep and started speaking in his weird hissing tongue in words she couldn't understand. Perhaps he was having another dream.

Lydia leaned in a bit closer to try and hear if he was saying anything she could understand but practically jumped out of her skin when she felt something long and hard press against her thigh. Resh was definitely having another dream! When she felt his hands start to roam up her legs she was torn between waking him up and just letting him get on with his dream, with her feeling its effects too. It was a horrible decision. _She_ definitely wanted it, but she couldn't say the same about him. Why was it the only time he tries to have sex with her be when he's unconscious?!

A dark part of her mind was urging her to just lie back and let him carry on. It's not like he would ever find out. As long as she cleaned up afterwards, of course. Even though he was obviously dreaming of someone else, this seemed to be as close as she was ever going to get to him showing her any interest in her.

But in the end she couldn't bring herself to do anything like that, and common sense started to win over. If she were to just take advantage of him like this she would be no better than the monster that had tried abusing someone with Resh present and subsequently scarred him for life. As well as that, if Resh ever found out he would probably throttle her alive for raping him.

"Resh?" she said quietly, trying to wake him without too much noise. She quickly realised it hadn't worked as his roaming hands had now made it to her sex and were now circling her tantalisingly. Despite the fact she was clearly eager, judging by the moisture that coated his fingertips. She still had to stop it now before it went any further than it already had. Just as Resh was unconsciously about to plunge his fingers into her, Lydia shouted as loud as she could to rouse him before he did.

"RESH!"

**Resh POV**

Resh woke at the sound of Lydia's shout, straight away on his feet prepared for any danger. He was surprised at how warm he was. He never would have guessed Lydia's method of warming him up would have worked so well. He checked around looking for the danger that Lydia must have woken him for. After a few seconds of looking around, Resh glanced back down at her who was also naked. He wouldn't say he was attracted to the human, but even he had to admit that it wasn't the worst thing to wake up to in the morning. And there was an endearing quality about the look of shock on Lydia's face. The woman in question had now scampered over to the supplies and started frantically putting on her armour as quickly as she possibly could.

"Why did you wake me if there was no danger?" he asked, confused at the interruption of what had been a pleasant sleep, with an even more _pleasant_ dream. He started to get changed instead of bringing it up.

Lydia considered telling him, but decided that it would be easier and a lot less awkward to just lie. "I thought I heard something."

Resh looked at her suspiciously. He could smell something wasn't quite right with what she was saying. The way her blood pressure rose he could tell she was lying. Another thing Resh immediately noticed was that she had that strange scent on her which she had the day before. And what was even weirder was that for some reason some of the smell was on his fingers too. It almost felt damp.

"What would you have heard?" he asked inquisitively, trying to catch her out.

"Err… Wolves."

"Yes, of course…" he replied dryly, clearly not believing her. "Anyway, how far from Winterhold are we?"

"If you're _warm_ enough then we should get there by today," Lydia told him gesturing for them to leave.

"Let's get going then," Resh exclaimed before brushing any snow from the blizzard out of his hair.

**Lydia POV**

Lydia winced as Resh ran his hands through his long black hair, not forgetting what it was coating his fingertips, but she didn't bring it up not wanting him to realise what had almost happened. Instead she just silently handed the supplies over to Resh, who grumbled about having to carry them when he had a perfectly able minion meant to do this. If he had really complained, she would have carried it instead. But he would probably take it as an insult to his strength.

The journey ahead of them should only take a few hours and Lydia couldn't wait to get to Winterhold. Not just because it would mean the end of this pitifully slow _adventure_ but because it meant that she would, hopefully, have somewhere to rest for the next week when her monthly 'time' started tomorrow.

And she knew for a fact that it would be better to have that in the city rather than when they were trekking through the snow. Besides, it would be easier for Resh as she would have less to complain to him about if she was comfortable in a city. Speaking of Resh, she supposed it would probably be best to warn him. He was her Thane after all, and she had to do all she could to make his life easier.

"Resh, I think I need to warn you about something before we get to the college. It's been almost a month we've been together so I feel I should let you know about something…" This was going to be awkward, especially as Resh hadn't once even seemed to wonder about it in the last few weeks. He must have known it was going to come around eventually.

"What would that be? Is it dangerous or something?" Resh asked. How could he not even guess what she was talking about? Was he that oblivious to her mentions of them being together a month that he couldn't guess the consequences?

"Well, I wouldn't really say dangerous. Unpleasant is a better word. Very unpleasant for me and unfortunately you'll catch some of that _unpleasantness_ as well."

Resh frowned at that. He wasn't going to let anything happen to her, or himself. "Why? Do they not like you there? Will they attack you? Because I can help with that." The snarling tone of his voice made it quite clear what he was suggesting.

Lydia rolled her eyes, "Kind as you are to offer, they're not going to attack me… There may be some _blood_ though." Lydia desperately hinted at the word 'blood' for him to understand.

Resh seemed confused, "Why blood? Just tell me what you're talking about."

"Are you really that oblivious?! It's quite obvious what I'm talking about!" Lydia was surprised at her raised voice, perhaps she was 'starting' early.

"What?" he asked in his still confused voice, also seemingly surprised at her anger as he shrank away from her yelling.

"I'm going to have my moons blood, you idiot! How did you not guess any of my hints? I was hoping this wouldn't be awkward, but because of you it was! Now let's just hurry up and get there!" she shouted angrily before walking off in a huff.

Resh looked at her walk off and tried not to think about this 'moons blood' thing Lydia spoke of. He had never heard of a Tsaesci having this 'moons blood'. But obviously it worried her and angered her enough to bring up. But frankly, he had no idea what she was talking about so thought it best to dismiss whatever she meant as irrelevant and look forward to the next day...

**I hope you liked that chapter. Lydia on her period for the next one, Resh has no idea what he's in for. In fact he actually doesn't since snakes don't have periods, so expect a very confused Resh.**

**Also forgive me if I don't portray the character of a woman having her period correctly, but as I'm a man and have never had one I'm going to have to guess what it's like for any women out there from what I have seen by other women.**


	32. That Unfortunate Time Of The Month

**Here's another chapter up so I hope you enjoy, also I said last week but I have another story posted which is Resh's early life so I really suggest you read a follow that as so far very few people have even seen it.**

Travelling with a human was nothing short of hell. The few weeks together hadn't been _that_ bad. But now Resh had no idea why but Lydia was being a nightmare today. Shouting at him for no reason and getting really annoyed without explaining why. Resh had never liked arguing with women, he had only ever done so in the past with Kayci, and that never ended well for him. Usually a shattered nose was involved and possibly being knocked unconscious. He didn't expect Lydia to try injuring him the way Kayci used to. But he would rather just not anger her and skip any form of her being angry at all.

Unfortunately that still didn't stop her from having something to bother him about. It wasn't always anger, sometimes it was just… odd. For example, she had spent the whole morning after she woke up in the inn complaining that she didn't want to go to the College because of the bridge making her sick to walk across, and instead sitting in her room in the foetal position as if in pain.

Resh's first mistake of the morning was asking her if she was okay, he was not greeted with the answer he would have expected.

"No, I'm not fucking okay!" she yelled at him, causing Resh to jump back a foot, surprised at her sudden burst of anger.

Resh, still curious despite her anger, pried further, "Is there a reason you're not okay?"

Lydia's response was a loud yell of "I already told you!" and then her throwing the first thing she grabbed in his direction. Resh easily dodged the burning lamp and ducked out of the room to avoid further onslaught. He quickly took a seat next to the fire to keep warm and sighed. Why did she have to be so infuriating now? He sat for about half an hour, waiting her for her to be ready to leave the room and get out of… whatever it was immobilising her.

"Resh?" he heard Lydia call from the room.

He stepped into the room, this time prepared for if anything else were to be thrown at him, "Yes…?"

"Can you get me a few sweet rolls to eat?" Lydia asked. She always got hungry for sweet things when her time of the month came.

"Are you sure? Don't too many sweet rolls cause you to get fat?" Resh was pretty sure that's what happened with humans when they ate too much unhealthy food and commended himself in his head for his knowledge. From the look on her face it seemed Lydia wasn't as pleased with his statement as he was. This time he wasn't putting it past her to just attack him on the spot.

Resh didn't know his mistake but apparently a few of the other patrons of the bar did as they all winced in unison when he mentioned her getting fat. He expected her to yell and shout like she had earlier, but this time her response was much more unexpected. She started to cry. When he saw her retreat back into the room Resh felt a large pang of guilt, and began to feel horrible that he had her so badly… somehow.

Walking to the tavern owner, Resh decided to buy a few of those sweet roll things Lydia wanted with the coin from the looted giant. And after sighing in exasperation he bought himself a 'Nordic mead' as well, deciding that he needed a good dose of alcohol considering how his companion was acting.

Resh took a sip of the bottle expecting it to taste of fermented piss since it was Nordic, but was surprised when he discovered how good it was. Very surprised. He hated to admit it, but it tasted considerably better than Tsaesci alcohol, which usually just tasted like slightly flavoured blood. But this was something else entirely. Perhaps he could go back to Akavir and bring back knowledge of good drinks instead of politics, it would probably be more important.

Remembering Akavir made him sad knowing he could never go back and stay alive for very long so he quickly downed his drink and got up to see Lydia. The woman in question was sitting on the bed glaring at the doorway as if expecting him. He should have drunk more.

"You took your time," she snapped, seemingly angry again as if her previous sadness wasn't as serious as he had thought.

"I did, but I bought you those sweet rolls you asked for." _'Have fun getting overweight.'_ Resh left the last part in his head, deciding it wasn't the best idea to irritate her further.

Lydia didn't bother thank him when she took them off his hands and started eating.

"So anyway… just shout for me and I'll come if you need anything," Resh told her before leaving quickly. It didn't take long before Resh regretted his words, because of all the things she was asking of him.

As the morning dragged on Lydia had kept calling him back to the room to ask him for things, most of which involved getting her various fattening foods and alcoholic drinks. Resh still maintained, in his head of course to avoid having the bottles thrown at him, that she would get fat from. The day had barely started and he was already getting tired. And that was a lot coming from someone who only has to sleep every week or so. Resh couldn't believe his situation. He was running around like a servant getting things for Lydia when in fact she should be the person serving him.

Suddenly, as Resh entered their room, he started to smell blood. It was coming from Lydia. Had she somehow been injured when he wasn't looking? He was going to kill whoever hurt her behind his back.

"Lydia, are you hurt?" he asked seriously, taking in more of the scent to see if he could find out how badly she was injured.

"I'm in pain, but not injured," she snapped viciously, causing Resh to almost jump again at her unusual displays of anger and these confusing mood swings. "Why?"

"Because I can smell blood coming out of you," he told her. Obviously he had said something else wrong because Lydia looked enraged again and started to shout at him once more.

Resh watched her as she stood up with fury written all over her face, and without a second thought he bolted as fast as he could out of the tavern so he could no longer hear her anger. He managed to pick up some words from her frantic yelling but decided "Inappropriate, inconsiderate bastard," wasn't a phrase he wanted to find out more about.

**I have good news, another user of FanFiction by the pen name 'Niwen' is drawing a picture, (so far it is extremely good) with colourisation and stuff of Resh, so when It's finished you should all see it as I will post it. Also I suggest you read her own FanFiction work as I am beta'ing it and it is very good.**

**I also said this last week but I will say it again, if I get a hormonal woman's character off don't blame me, I'm only going by what's it's been like for me as a man being around said grouchy woman.**


	33. Warmth At Last

**Here's another chapter for you so I hope you enjoy. I am not the creator of Skyrim or any of the games made by Bethesda.**

Resh sighed when he finally stepped through the gates of the College. It was exasperating having to prove himself to that incessant woman on the bridge who doubted his prowess. Why did all women have to be so difficult? At least she wasn't angry for no reason, or having random mood swings like Lydia was. He could take solace in that much. Whatever it was making her act that way, he hoped it would be gone when he got back to her. If not, he would just have to hide from her for a few days and hope time took its toll. Right now, though he had to find someone who could enchant things for him. Preferably for free as he had spent the rest of the small amount of money he had on alcohol and sweet rolls for his emotional housecarl.

In the courtyard there appeared to be a heated argument between someone he recognised as Thalmor by his robes, and another person who appeared to be a senior member of the college. He didn't care much for what it was about, but just hoped it would finish quickly so that he could find out who in this College enchanted things. Thankfully, it ended almost as soon as he got there so he had an opportunity to ask around. He tried asking some of the many spectators of the scene to direct him, but they were all too caught up in what had just happened to give him a proper response. Just their insight on how the argument unravelled and their opinion of the Thalmor agent, no matter how irrelevant it was to him.

Instead of asking the people outside, Resh decide to stroll into the main building ahead of him and see if there was anyone in charge in there who could help him. On the way there he walked past the Thalmor who had been arguing previously. His face was painted with a look of arrogance and superiority, as if he thought every species but his was inferior somehow. Resh wondered if that's what he looked like whenever he had similar thoughts about the people around him. He hoped not.

The moment he walked into the large and rather, by human standards, impressive hall Resh could see there was a lesson of some kind going on. Not wanting to intrude, instead of asking the person who appeared to be in charge as he was currently teaching, Resh walked to the bald imperial that was strolling around and decided to ask him if he knew anything,

"Do you know anything about enchanting? Or know anyone that does?"

"You've come to the right place," the man replied. "I'm Sergius, I'm the head enchanter at this College. Need anything, and have the money to pay for it, and I'll make it."

'_Finally,' _Resh thought. He had, at last, found the right person after his horrible journey.

"I assume you want something to make your swords more powerful, or to make your armour make you stronger?"

"You assume wrong, I just want something that will stop me from dying in the cold," Resh told him.

The man looked confused, but decided to hold in his questioning for now. "I'll see what I can do. I'll make a ring that will make sure that as long as you're wearing it you won't get too… _cold_." Of all the things someone could have come to him for, _this_ was it? Nothing hard just a bit of heat in a ring. If he wasn't going to be paid he would have laughed at the man.

"So this ring you make will stop magical ice?" Resh asked, hoping it could solve two problems.

"No, this will create heat with a very small fire enchantment. It will stop the natural cold but not magical. If I were to enchant something to lessen the blow of magic, then it would do nothing to actual weather," he explained. Resh had always had some knowledge of magic, but never very much in enchantments, so he wasn't too sure about how they worked.

"Will you make me one?"

"I don't see why a Nord like you would need an enchantment like that. Maybe an Argonian might, or perhaps a Breton, but Nords like you are meant to be able to handle the cold." little did he know that Resh wasn't actually a Nord.

Resh had to suppress a hiss at that. He hated being thought of as weak. "Are you going to make this thing for me or not?" he snapped.

"Yes, I'll get round to it. Are you in a rush or something?" Sergius replied, startled at the large man's tone.

"Oh Gods, no!" Resh blurted, remembering what he would have to go back to if he left.

"Okay… well anyway, there's just one thing left before I make it: payment," the college member said as he looked up at Resh expectedly.

Resh sighed, "How much will it be?"

"About 300 septims," the man replied. Resh checked his pockets for any money he may have left. He knew it wouldn't be that much, but perhaps he could pay a small amount now and then send some money via courier when he gathered some more. He pulled out 12 coins. It was all he had left from Lydia constantly wanting him to buy things. If he died because he didn't have this enchantment, he was blaming it on her.

"Can I pay some now and then send you the rest when I get more?" Resh asked him, holding out the small amount of gold.

"Not with that little. Either find me something worth the amount or get the money," he replied sternly, causing Resh to give out a defeated sigh.

"I'll be back in a few minutes," Resh told him before leaving the enchanter's room and ducking out of sight.

Resh didn't want it to come to this but he had little choice. Reaching into supply pack he was still holding Resh pulled out a small vial that contained a healing potion and drank it down quickly with no other reason but to empty it. Now with the empty bottle, he raised it to his mouth and pressed it to his teeth. Draining out his venom to sell wasn't really something he wanted to do because of the many issues it could cause. Such as confusion about where Tsaesci venom was coming from. But he didn't have much of a choice and knew it would fetch a high price.

He waited until the vial was almost full before putting the lid back on, sealing it. It looked like the average health potion just a slightly different shade of red, but would be easy for anyone who knows a thing or two about alchemy to differentiate between a potion and a poison.

"Here," Resh said, tossing the sealed bottle to the man as he re-entered the room. "It should be worth at least the 300 gold." Knowing how rare it was, it would probably be worth considerably more.

"What is it?" Sergius asked, taking the lid off the bottle and smelling the liquid, wincing away at the vile odour.

"It's very rare," Resh replied, trying not to give away too much. The man then stuck his finger in the liquid and went to taste it before Resh quickly stopped him, "And _very_ poisonous!"

The imperial hastily wiped the liquid off his finger. Surely it couldn't be _that_ poisonous. With most poisonous potions you could at least taste a bit of it and be fine. Even so he didn't want to take any chances.

"Very rare you say? I guess this is good enough. Come back in about 15 minutes and I'll have it made for you." Usually he wouldn't have started work immediately and would have made him wait a few days. But if this _poison_ was really so rare then he was more than happy to start work straight away. Perhaps he could sell it to someone more interested in alchemy and make even more of a profit.

**20 Minutes Later**

"As I said, I don't know why you of all people will need this, but here you go. It would have been a lot harder to make and would have taken longer if I hadn't made one of these recently," he explained, handing the finished ring to Resh who put it on quickly because he was starting to shiver again.

Strangely. This was the second of this particular enchantment he had ever made in his life, and they were both in the same week. Even stranger still was the fact both of those buying it were Nords.

**I hope you all liked that, and also hoped that you get who I'm referencing to at the last bit, because things are going to get interesting soon. Anyway, please review, favourite and follow if you liked. **

**Till next time.**


	34. Ignorance Is Still Not Bliss

**Resh's problem is finally solved at last. Too bad he has a new problem, a PMS'ing houscarl. Anyway, I hope you like this new chapter, so read on…**

As he left the hall, Resh looked back at the enchanter as he studied the bottle of Tsaesci venom. Resh hoped he wouldn't try to taste it again. Something that stupid would kill him in seconds. Regardless of that, Resh was still overjoyed. At last the constant bite of the cold was gone and he could react and move normally.

Unfortunately, there was a new issue to solve. Whatever in oblivion was making his usually talkative, but relatively normal, companion go completely insane for no reason. Perhaps it was the injury he smelled earlier and she just didn't want to talk about it because it meant admitting weakness.

He couldn't say for certain about her. But if he were to show any signs of weakness, it would definitely be a problem for him. Nevertheless, he couldn't let her interfere with their travels over something as minor as what seemed like a small injury from the little amount of blood. He should just insist on seeing the injury and then heal it for her so she stopped acting the way she was. And if she carried on… he would just have to order more of that delicious Nordic drink, and try to ignore her.

In fact, he would order more of that anyway.

**Lydia POV**

It had been about half an hour and Lydia still couldn't believe how he had just run away from her. For someone who claims to be some honourable warrior that deserves respect, he was a coward for sprinting. Fair enough, she had thrown things at him. But he should just learn to put up with it.

Her nausea had calmed down enough for her to go looking for him. So, leaving her room, Lydia went to head out of the inn before something caught her eye. More appropriately, someone. Someone who was sitting at a table drinking while she had been previously suffering. If she was already going to kill him for his earlier remarks, she was definitely going to slaughter him now.

"Resh!" she growled from behind him, causing his head to snap around quickly.

The surprise in his voice was evident, "Oh! Lydia, I was just… err…" he grabbed his half-finished bottle of mead and offered it up to her, "I was just buying you a drink…" he finished, pride showing at his quick thinking.

Lydia snatched the drink off him and downed it, briefly considering smashing him over the head with the bottle, but decided against it. Too many witnesses…

"Is there a reason why _you're_ here drinking while _I_ was in there suffering?" she spat venomously, not _really_ asking a question.

"Well, I just assumed that because you're acting the way you were I should have a few drinks before I try to talk to you," he explained.

As if _that_ was going to make her any less pissed. "It's your own damn fault! You should be trying to look after me like this, not run away because you a coward!" Her last words clearly hit him hard as instead of acting defensive at her anger he started to bite back.

"I'm tired of this! I'm not a coward! I've been trying to put up with you but I can't take it anymore! I smelled blood earlier. You're injured. Let me see it _now._ I can help, I still have a potion left." It was now Lydia's time to jump back at his harsh, yet firm voice.

"Are you insane!" she hissed. "I'm not going to let you see where the blood's coming from!" Lydia wished he had asked to see _that area_ when it wasn't bleeding and causing her horrible discomfort.

"But you're hur-" he tried to protest before being cut off by the embarrassed and still angry woman dragging him into their room to avoid people hearing their embarrassing conversation.

"It's not an injury you idiot! Gods, it's like you've never even heard about what a woman's 'time of the month is'!" she shouted, hating how ignorant he could be.

"It's like that because I haven't," he replied.

Lydia was confused now, "You had a female companion, though. Surely you must have experienced it once."

Resh shook his head. Kayci was a snake, like him. She never had any of this human nonsense. She was still violent to him, though, hence his extreme caution around the angry woman.

"Well it's when once a month my body goes strange and feels like it's ripping me apart from the inside. Hence the anger. I also get emotional and have mood swings because of it as well. Something to do with hormones. I never really paid that much attention when it was being explained to me, so I don't know many details."

Resh pondered this for a few moments. It must be horrible to be a human. He would hate to have all these mood swings and emotional spikes, "Once a month? That doesn't sound too bad, how long does it last, is it only a few hours or the entire day?"

Lydia's anger dissipated as she saw the look on of hope on his face that it would only be for a few hours. She almost didn't have the heart too tell him. "A bit longer than that… about a week…"

"An entire week!? So you're saying for a quarter of the time I'm going to spend with you you're going to act like this!" Resh yelled, clearly distraught with the new thing he had learnt about humans. _'Why Kayci ever had a relationship with one of these disgusting, demonic creatures is beyond me,'_ he thought. If the every female human was like this, he wondered why any potential mate ever stayed near them.

It was a few moments before Lydia replied. She was clearly trying to hide a smirk at his reaction. "Yeah…" Lydia couldn't help but start laughing completely when Resh's jaw literally dropped.

**I hope you all enjoyed that, sorry for the short chapter, I couldn't think of much to write. Please follow, favourite and review if you liked. Also as school has just finished for me I will hopefully be updating more frequently as I will have more time to write, apart from school revision, but I'll just half-ass that to write more. **


	35. An Unlucky Solution

**Good news everyone, my beta reader is back, she will be beta'ing my already posted chapters that I put up during her absence, so they will be updated when completed. Once that is done, she will carry on beta'ing my work, but I will make sure that I still get many chapters done as fast as possible.**

His reaction was funny at first. But after a few minutes of watching Resh opening and closing his mouth trying to find the right thing to say, Lydia grew bored. She was about to interrupt him but before she did he finally chose something to say.

"So… what is it I should do in this situation? Am I expected to stay with you or can I just leave early to avoid this _thing_ altogether?" Resh asked, desperately hoping for the latter of the two options.

"No you can't leave early just to avoid me!" Lydia almost shouted, before realising her raised voice and lowering it again, not wanting to put him through too much trauma seeing as this was his first time looking after someone during 'this time.'

Lydia continued, "We can either leave like this, or stay here the rest of the week. The first option will get us back to the mountain, assuming that's where you want to go, quickest. The second will take longer, as we will be here. But it will be easier to deal with me in a town."

She didn't like to explain things so personal that simply. But her Thane was somehow completely unaware of the entire process, so she came to the conclusion it would probably be easier for him, and for her, if she made it as easy as she could.

Resh's face fell at her reply. He didn't want to have to stay with her when she was acting the way she was. Normally she was likable but now, not so much. "_Fine_. I'll decide when we leave later, but for now is there any way you know of to prevent it altogether? Or at least dull its effects?" he asked, obviously not wanting this recent little nightmare to become a regular thing.

"Short of cutting out my uterus… no." She meant it as a joke, but then she caught a glimpse at Resh's questioning look, as if he was about to ask for permission. _"No."_

"I don't see why not, you just said it would work," he muttered to himself. Lydia was unsure whether he was joking or not, but made a note to be on high alert when sleeping so that she didn't wake up having been made unable to have children.

Just to be sure he wouldn't Lydia grabbed his arm in a vice-like grip and growled, "Just so you know, if you try to cut anything out of me, Thane or not, I'm going to kill you."

Resh didn't really know what to think about that. Her grip, which she herself might have thought strong, could easily be removed. And although he could sense the sincerity of her words, he didn't think that she could come close to killing him if she tried. Not that she would need to, he had no intention of making her completely infertile.

"I'll try to keep my hands to myself," he replied, not explaining his previous thoughts in case they were to anger her.

"Too bad…" Lydia sighed quietly to herself at his sentence wording. Despite him not meaning it in a 'sexual' way, she still felt sad that it was probably true in that aspect as well, regardless of if he had intended on pointing it out or not.

"What?" Resh asked, not having heard properly.

"It's nothing, it doesn't matter," she hastily replied, desperately not wanting him to find out about her growing attraction to him now of all times.

"Seriously, what did you say? I didn't hear. I'm sure it's not nothing, so why don't you tell me?" he pressed. Probably thinking she had something important to say, but obviously not understanding when to let it go.

Unfortunately his lack of common sense caused her temper to flare up again, "I said it doesn't matter! Can you not let things go?! Stop pressing, you fu-"

"I have an idea," Resh announced suddenly, cutting her off before she finished shouting, "How about I hire someone to travel with us so that I don't have to deal with all of… this…" he finished, gesturing at shouting.

She was about to start shouting at him again because of his stupidity but then she realised it probably wasn't that bad an idea. She wasn't weak by a long shot. She could tell by Resh's wincing whenever she started to shout. And she certainly didn't need someone to follow her around and look after her.

Despite this, having a third person, at least for a while, would probably be beneficial for both of them. It would mean she would have someone to shout at besides Resh, who, because of his rank as both Thane and Dragonborn, really didn't deserve her scorn. And also that she wasn't just going to be talking to someone who was completely clueless about the subject.

"Fine, run along and find someone, I don't care who," she snapped, still annoyed at him for cutting her off, despite his alright idea.

It wasn't until about an hour later when he got back to the tavern with a new companion in tow did she start to regret her words. It was just her luck that Resh picks the attractive Dunmer woman with an aptitude for magic, like himself, to come with them. She let out an exasperated sigh. The last thing Lydia needed was competition from a woman who was likely far more 'on-par' with Resh's academic intelligence than herself.

**I hope you enjoyed that, admittedly short, chapter, please follow, favourite and review if you did. Also it turns out last chapter I lied, I thought the holiday would give me more time to write but (somehow) I'm finding my time used up, or myself only in the mood to relax, therefore I will still try to write, but not as often.**


	36. And Then There Were Three

**Here's another new chapter so I hope you enjoy it. Sorry about slower updates, I have involved myself in a task that's taking longer than expected and is using up writing time.**

**Resh POV**

It had only been a few days but Resh was loving the new addition to the group. Not only was she taking the brunt of Lydia when she got annoyed, but she was also a mage. And a good one at that. It felt nice having someone intellectual around after so long. The best part was that ,unlike Lydia, she didn't seem to want to pry into his personal life and constantly ask him questions. It was almost getting to the point where _he _wanted to talk. She occasionally spoke to Lydia but Resh sensed that for some reason the latter of the two wasn't overly fond of the former. Or at the very least had some form of disdain towards her. Perhaps it was due to the Dunmers evident skill with magic when she herself seemed incapable of learning.

Although he was becoming increasingly fond of her, especially when she managed to fry an entire pack of wolves before he had a chance to attack one of them himself. Brelyna wasn't the only thing Resh was enjoying from the College. He also had the ring that the Imperial had made him. He raised it and watched as it glinted in the sun. It was amazing how something so small could be so important and powerful. It had already shaved days off the return trip from Winterhold because he no longer had to keep stopping. He didn't even have to bask in the sun anymore it was so useful, meaning he could choose to stay awake for days on end without needing any sleep. Of course he still had to let the other two sleep whenever they needed to. But he could handle that, despite the fact it was a good eight hours of the day wasted.

Resh looked behind to see that his two companions were lagging far behind. Probably because they weren't as strong, and therefore able to keep up with him. Still, they both knew where they were heading and he was sure that if they needed to, they could probably catch up with him. So he didn't bother slowing down for them. If they managed to keep up this rate of travelling they could return to the Greybeards by the end of the week. Which, coincidentally, would be right when Lydia's 'problem' would have finished.

Despite that meaning Brelyna's job would be over, Resh still wanted to keep her around. Unlike him she also knew several healing spells that would most likely be very useful considering the lack of potions they had and the amount of times he got injured. He would ask Lydia what she thought about Brelyna becoming a permanent member later. The mage and his Housecarl appeared to be talking now, so Resh hoped they were starting to get along. Tthat way she would be more likely to agree with him.

**Lydia POV**

Even after three days Lydia was still unsure what to think of the Dark Elf. Naturally she was slightly jealous of her for a few obvious reasons, such as her abilities with magic and the fact Resh had seemed to take an immediate liking to her. But still, the woman didn't appear to have any intentions of taking her Thane from her, so Lydia wasn't _too _threatened.

Although she didn't overly want her around, it didn't mean she regretted her being there. Being a woman like herself, Brelyna knew exactly what to do while Lydia was suffering, which was without a doubt a big step up from Resh's complete ignorance.

"Resh is quite strange, isn't he?" Brelyna asked casually, snapping Lydia out of her train of thoughts.

"How so?" Lydia replied, paying special attention now the mage was stepping into dangerous waters. Only she was allowed to insult her Thane.

"For starters it's been about three days and I haven't seen him eat, sleep or drink. So that's one thing," she explained. Lydia could see why she would be wondering about that, after all, she was too.

"Yeah, it's weird isn't it? I don't really know anything about that."

"Also, I know Nords are usually larger than other races, but he's massive. Almost a head taller than an _Orc._ Surely that can't be normal?" Lydia hadn't seen many Orcs, but still she agreed with Brelyna, Resh was unnaturally huge.

"No, it's not. It's true though, he's much taller than anyone else I've met as well," Lydia answered truthfully, feeling threatened by the way the Elf was starting to admire him.

"That's not just it though. He has all of that skill with magic as well. Most Nords are never that intelligent, its amaz-" She was almost starting to sound like she was hero worshipping him, which would definitely be a problem for Lydia.

Lydia stopped her right there, thinking it best to get it out of the way now, "Before we go, on I just feel it right to tell you that Resh is off limits." After seeing the confused look on her face Lydia started to elaborate, speaking in a predatory tone, as if marking her territory, "I've been trying to get his attention for a while now, and I can't let you just waltz into the group and be all 'magicky' and get him to instantly start liking you. So to make things short, he's mine."

"Oh! That shouldn't be a pr-"

"I'm not finished yet," Lydia snapped. "_Also_, don't tell him any of that, because I don't know if he's interested or not. So just keep it to yourself and think of it as a reason not to go after him."

"I can assure you it won't be an issue. Believe me, Resh isn't my type. The main problem being that he is a 'he'. Besides it was quite obvious from the way you look at him that he was clearly 'someone else's'," Brelyna said, causing Lydia to blush. She hadn't realised how obvious she was.

Even so Lydia sighed with relief. That was a huge weight off her shoulders. Maybe she could actually start to like the Elf now, without the feeling of jealousy clouding her judgement. It would be nice to have someone to talk to who wouldn't try to constantly cover up their personal life and duck questions.

**I hope you all liked that, please follow, favourite and review. Also, I forgot to mention this I while back, but I have a new poll on my profile, it's about Bethesda's other game 'Fallout New Vegas'. So if you're like me and like the game I think you should vote in it.**

**Thanks.**


	37. Two Problems

**Another chapter up, the next few chapters are going to be really fun to write, I've finally gotten to the bits I have been planning since the start of my FanFiction, so I hope they will be good as well.**

**Resh POV**

The moment Resh saw Whiterun jut out from the distance he couldn't help but feel a smile creep onto his face. He was, at last, out of that frozen hell. Even though his newest piece of jewellery had solved that problem for him, he still hated the place. For good reason as well. It had almost killed him. Resh shuddered at the idea of dying like that. He didn't even want to think about what that would have been like.

He considered travelling past it and heading straight for the mountain. But after noticing how dark the sky had gotten he realised that his two companions probably needed sleep after a long day of constant travelling.

"Lydia, Brelyna," he called loudly so they could hear even when they were far behind him talking to each other.

After a few seconds he heard Lydia shout back, "Yeah?"

"I assume you need sleep around now, so we're going to stop in Whiterun for the night." Resh smiled when he saw the look of relief that flooded across both their faces because they were finally going to a proper place to sleep instead of bedrolls in the snow. It was going to make the rest of his announcement so much harder to say.

"Unfortunately, I don't have any money left because of how much was spent in Winterhold," he continued, sparing a moment to glare at Lydia for wasting it all on alcohol and sweet rolls. "So you are going to have to find a way to afford a room. Either that or you could just sleep in the streets."

The looks in both the women's eyes were priceless. They were a mixture between disbelief and pure unadulterated anger. He didn't blame them, though. He too would be annoyed if he had to sleep and the only options were to either sleep in the streets or most likely beg on them for the coin to afford a tavern room.

Somehow, Brelyna managed to keep her voice calm when she spoke back to him, "And where will you be sleeping? On the streets like us as well?"

Resh almost laughed, "No, of course not. I don't need to sleep. I'm going to spend the night hunting so that we can actually afford to buy things next time we go anywhere." It would probably only take one deer or elk to provide a night's tavern rent for the three of them. He would have to sell everything, though. Not just the antlers and hide, but the meat as well.

Brelyna clearly wasn't happy with his reply and gestured to the deer grazing in the plains close by, "What about the deer right there? It's only a few metres away. You could take it down easily and then all our problems would be solved."

Resh looked at it for a few moments and shook his head, "No, that would be too easy." He wasn't one to kill something so easily. There was no honour in that. If he had actually used effort and tracked it from miles away, or if it wasn't so passive near the group and tried running then maybe he would have. But grazing like it was he couldn't bring himself to kill it. It would be like slaying an innocent.

"Too easy?! It's a deer! For coming this close to the path I think it deserves death for its stupidity." She looked only to see him shake his head. "Fine, I'll do it then," she muttered, bring up her hands and conjuring fire.

She cursed as it sprinted into the distance the moment her magica pooled in her palms. She hated hunting in Skyrim. It seemed the animals didn't care how close she got, but the moment someone even starts to draw a weapon they bolted. It must be hell for proper hunters.

Resh and Lydia both glanced at each other and had to try holding in laughter. "I guess too easy is too hard for some people," Lydia remarked, causing Resh to crack a large obvious grin, no matter how hard he was trying to hide it.

She glared at Lydia. "Hey! Don't laugh with him. I thought we were meant to be _annoyed_ at him," she snapped, pointing at the suddenly very pale looking man, his smile had dissipated immediately.

"Oh yeah…"

Resh sighed. He couldn't decide whether to just sprint like he had done so in the past or try to zone out to ignore their combined scorn. If he were to sprint he would probably end up being set on fire when he ran, so he decided for the second of the two options.

**10 Minutes Later**

"-And you just expect us to sleep in the streets! We could get robbed!" Resh was going to answer but decided that telling them that they didn't actually have anything of any value on them probably wouldn't be a good idea. Still, he had to do something. He couldn't spend another second listening to them complain. He would rather they just stabbed him and got it over with.

"I can't believe you didn't even get that deer fo-" the mage was cut short by Resh grabbing the scruff of her robe, as well the back plate of Lydia's armour and wrenching them both off the ground with ease. He didn't want it to come to this but he had no choice.

Resh's solution was met a chorus squeals, shouts and yells of "Resh! What are you doing!" and "Put us down you idiot!"

He quickly drowned them out as he ran toward the city gates as fast as he could, hauling the two women and the supplies with him as he went. Shouldering open the city door and ignoring confused looks from guards on night patrols Resh bolted towards the nearest tavern and barged through. Resh was greeted by several shocked and worried looks from the current patrons. Who wouldn't be worried, though? An extremely large man rushing into a tavern with a woman in each arm wasn't a very common sight.

Dropping them both to the floor, Resh quickly addressed the entire tavern, "I know this may look weird to you, but if you were in my place you would understand. Anyway I don't have any money, and these two need to sleep. So someone pay for their rooms." Resh straightened up as he said this so everyone could see how large he was, hopefully someone would be intimidated enough by his size to help them out.

After being satisfied with the stunned silence that followed Resh finished, "… Also, no one let her drink," pointing at Lydia as he said it. Realising Lydia and Brelyna were starting to rise, he darted back out of the tavern. He was followed by the bewildered stares of the citizens, and the angry piercing glares, and words, of his companions.

It may have been a drastic action on his part, but a minute long sprint and causing a scene in a tavern was definitely preferable to five more minutes of listening to them berate him while they walked. He knew there would most likely be repercussions, but for now he didn't care. That would be a problem for future Resh.

**I hope you all like that chapter as well, so please favourite, follow, review etc. It's very late I'm writing this chapter so if there is an abundance of grammatical errors, or some stuff that could have been written better near the end don't blame me, feel free to tell me though.**


	38. The Snake That Hunts

**Resh POV**

Unlike his home, or anywhere else in Tamriel, the animals in Skyrim were ridiculously easy to hunt. Even when he tried to give them a chance so it didn't seem like slaughtering an innocent creature, they still seemed to barely care for their own safety. All the deer and elk would just stand in plain sight and didn't even need to be tracked. He could practically walk up and touch one of them without it trying to run.

Of course, it had been annoying at first when he had made the same mistake Brelyna had. It would appear that the animals could actually identify the magic in his hands and then run away. Regardless, he still shot the large elk down when it ran. He figured that its failed attempt of escape was enough to deem it an honourable kill. It wasn't enough though. He needed a challenge when hunting. But other than innocent people in the city there was nothing that would even try to put up a fight. Apart from those werewolves. Surely no one would care if he were to slay one or two of them. If anything he should be thanked.

When he had finished skinning and removing the antlers of the deer, he set off back for the city. He didn't particularly want to carry around bloody meat so he left the skinless carcass beside the road. He briefly considered eating it himself. But the only way he would be able to finish it quickly would be to change to his normal form and swallow it whole. Something the local farmers or patrolling guards probably wouldn't appreciate. And if he wanted to take out a few members of the pack, he would need to have all the time he could. Werewolves, although unarmoured and unarmed, weren't the easiest things to kill.

A few minutes later he had reached the doors of Jorrvaskr. He wondered if it would be better to run in straight away and slaughter as many as he could as quickly as he could, or to try to be stealthy and discreet about it. His train of thought was cut off by the loud bards music coming from within. There must be a celebration of some kind. The 'running in' option it was, he couldn't kill them one by one if they were all in the same room. Besides, they could probably smell him anyway.

Grabbing the hilt of his sword and conjuring flames in the other hand Resh steeled himself before charging through the doors, getting ready to put down any Daedra he could see.

**2 Hours Later**

Downing another mead and slamming the tankard onto the table, Resh roared in laughter at Farkas as he regaled the tale of his last contract to the halls, causing everyone to hang onto his every word. For a piece of half-Daedric scum he told a great story, albeit far from the truth. Resh highly doubted the man could wipe out an entire vampire lair armed only with a rusty two tined fork and a small piece of linen to protect his modesty.

It didn't matter if it was factual or not though, Resh was in too good a mood to think too much into it. Not only was the wolf an excellent story-teller but every time he finished his drink someone would come over to refill it for free. He could feel himself starting to get inebriated, but he didn't care.

The Nord's story was quickly rebuffed when the red haired woman Aela told the story in a different light. This version, which entailed Farkas hiding behind her, still armed with a broken fork as she shot each of the vampires with arrows, was a lot more realistic, causing the hall to burst into roars of laughter again, this time at Farkas's expense, drowning out the bard's music. Resh hadn't laughed this hard in ages, these wolves weren't half bad. Of course there had been some tension when he first charged into Jorrvaskr with hand blazing. But it didn't take long before they had… somehow… managed to get him drinking down one of those honeyed Nordic drinks.

Suddenly all the atmosphere had died for some reason and the halls went silent. Resh turned to see Vilkas, the smarter twin. The one he had beaten in a fight, mocked and thrown away the possessions of the other day. Resh had strong suspicions he was still annoyed about that. As did everyone else, hence the silence.

"My weapon's still gone you know. It was expensive as well. I expect a new one."

Resh suppressed the urge to laugh at the man attempts at intimidating him, and instead met his gaze and rose from the table as if to demonstrate his larger height and strength, looking down at him to prove his point. "I thought you have some new lackey to run around and _fetch _it for you?" he focused on the word 'fetch' just to grate him even further.

"You threw it quite far," he growled. "We still haven't got it."

"How about we settle this with… a competition of sorts. If I can drink you under the table, then you have to stop being annoyed about the whole lost sword thing," Resh stated. A crowd had formed around the two at a prospect of two giants getting hammered, so Vilkas now knew he had to accept.

"Alright, what if _I _win?" he asked in his already half-drunk haze trying to see what he could get out of this.

Truthfully, because there was no way the Nord could win this, Resh hadn't really thought of a scenario for him losing. "I will personally look for it myself," Resh finally replied after having come up with something.

"Deal." Vilkas growled before grabbing the closest tankard and drinking it all in one go, hissing as the strong liquid went down.

Even though it felt bad taking advantage of someone's ignorance like this, a drinking competition was the easiest, and most enjoyable, way to sort out this conflict. Especially as there was no way he could lose because of his Tsaesci metabolism. Several strong drinks later and he had lasted a lot longer than Resh would have thought for a human. Of course he had still won in the end because of his much larger size, despite most of it not being shown because of his human form, making it harder to get drunk. But still, he hadn't expected the competition to go on nearly this long. He was starting to get drunk himself.

The celebration went on for a couple more hours before the Companions, who he was starting to reconsider his opinion on, started leaving to go to their rooms and the bard had left. Apparently the Companions had all liked him as well because all of them, even the woman that attacked him the first time they met, had thanked him for coming and laughed along with him when drinking. It was getting late, or early for that matter as it had gone on all night. So Resh decided it would be best to go back to where he had dumped Lydia and Brelyna. Hopefully the alcohol had killed enough of his brain to make him not care about the shouting he would most likely receive.

Regardless, that wasn't what was on the forefront of Resh's mind. What was there was how much fun he had had. If they did this every day, he would have to come to Whiterun more often. Even if it was because of a few half-Daedra.

**Hope you liked that chapter, I liked the Companions and didn't want to write them negatively, but I also didn't want to do their quest line in this, so this is my compromise. So anyway, please favourite, follow and review.**

**Also I didn't read through this because it was midnight when I finished, so I'm not sure how well it flowed.**


	39. Gone Their Separate Ways

**Hey people, here's another chapter, I hope you enjoy this chapter, I've come to the conclusion that as I am updating so often I no longer have anything of value to put in my authors notes. Anyway, read on…**

**Lydia POV**

Lydia frowned. Despite having a drink in her hands, courtesy of Brelyna's own money, she was still bored. Drinking alone was _not _fun. Well, she wasn't completely alone. But the Dunmer mage was too busy flirting with the pretty barmaid to have time to talk to her, so she might as well have been. She wasn't really angry with Brelyna for ignoring her so much as jealous. It was saddening to see her 'having fun' with other people when the guy she wanted had dropped her off, _literally_, in a tavern and sprinted away as if she was diseased.

It was times like this Lydia wished she preferred the fairer sex. It would be a lot better than pining after men who were often thoughtless and inconsiderate. Men like her Thane who showed no interest in herself. Although Lydia was decidedly straight, she reckoned that if she was drunk enough she could probably bend the other way. It would definitely be interesting to try out in case she got tired of waiting for Resh to come around.

That day was not today though, and probably won't be any day soon. Lydia looked back up from her drink only to see Brelyna slipping into one of the bedrooms with her new 'friend.' She was happy for her though, and not just because Brelyna's barmaid had given them a free room. Two rooms, in fact, because of the second set of keys next to her. But because she was glad her friend was having fun, unlike her. Maybe she should just go out looking for Resh and have one last-ditch attempt of getting his attention. But she wouldn't know where to look. He could be anywhere. Probably out of the city still hunting.

Besides, he probably didn't want to see her anyway, hence his hasty escape. Even though it was his fault they were angry. She wondered where he got the mentality of running away from her when she got angry, but remembered the occasional mentions he had made about his 'ex' having knocked him unconscious when annoyed. Lydia smirked. He probably thought she was going to do the same despite the obvious strength difference.

Oh, well though. She had two choices: accept the problem for what it was and find a way to sort it out without jeopardising the group, or deal with it the good old fashioned Nord way. Get wasted on mead and regret it the next day.

She chose option two.

**Resh POV**

Being a Tsaesci rather than a Nord came with many advantages, such as incredible strength, immortality and a working knowledge of magic to name a few examples. Unfortunately problem solving was not one of them. He had a dilemma, he could either return to the tavern Lydia and the mage were at and face possible anger, or roam the streets of Whiterun in boredom. If he wasn't drunk from the recent festivities at Jorrvaskr he would have gone out killing bandits or hunting. Unfortunately, in this state he would be lucky if he didn't somehow get skewered by a deer's antlers.

Admittedly he wasn't_ that_ inebriated when he had left the party. But when he noticed the empty halls, and the mead bottles still there that were still full, he couldn't help it. That black briar stuff was amazing. In his drunken haze he made a mental note to hug whoever made the stuff. Someone who made such a divine drink must have been one of the Aedra themselves. Resh laughed to himself at that. If true it would have been one of the few times the Aedra had done anything of any value.

Finally after a few minutes of thought Resh decided what to do. He knew it probably wasn't a very good idea to get completely smashed in front of humans when he was technically still on a reconnaissance mission. But after all, other than exposing himself, _'What's the worst that could happen…?'_

That was his last thought before he pushed open the other taverns doors and got ready to get even drunker. He was beginning to like Nordic culture.

**Brelyna POV. Brace yourself for some Femslash. Feel free to skip if that bothers you. Enjoy ;)**

She stared at the naked Redguard for several seconds before fully registering what was happening. Brelyna couldn't believe it. She really hadn't expected to get so far with a woman in one night. It would probably just be a one night thing but it's not like she was complaining. This is more than she would ever have gotten at the College. She was so happy she had left. Of course not for good, but there was only so long she could stay at a place where she would constantly be lonely and have to spend the everyday turning down that idiot J'zargo who just didn't get the message.

Saadia, the Redguard barmaid, was just as eager as she was and pounced on her the moment she had finished removing her own clothes. She couldn't blame her though. Running from those mercenaries she spoke about must be very stressful, and she definitely didn't mind being a bit of stress relief.

Brelyna quickly pushed all those distracting thoughts out of mind when the Redguard's hand started to travel downwards. This night was going to be about the two of them and nothing else, and she wouldn't let anything distract her. Like she really needed to try though, her mind was reduced to a little but a blur of pleasure when the barmaid probed her entrance, eliciting a whimper when her fingers curled inside her. Taking it as encouragement, Saadia sped up hitting the good spot over and over causing the Elf's moans to echo through the room, and most likely the rest of the tavern.

After so long, she had missed another woman's touch. It didn't take very long before she built up to her first orgasm. The first after so long had come crashing down hard and she had to bite down on her lip to stifle a scream. She could taste the blood on her lip but it was worth it. The rate at which Saadia was using her fingers to ride out her orgasm was definitely going to leave her sore in the morning.

She had little time to dwell on the thought before the Redguard's head had moved down to her wetness. Brelyna desperately wanted to return the favour but found herself unable to do anything but moan when she felt the other woman's tongue work its way between her folds, rubbing against her pearl. As the woman's tongue continued to explore her slit she found her own hand rolling her breasts in her hands, tweaking the nipples with her fingers, causing an enticing mixture between pleasure and pain, building her up again even quicker.

The second release had taken longer and was more powerful than the first, the agonisingly perfect build-up had made it pure bliss. Saadia savoured the other woman's taste as it soaked her mouth, but continued to use both her tongue and hands to ride out the Elf's high for longer, making a loud scream of pleasure ring through the town. Brelyna feared that if she had tried to stifle that one like she had the first she would have bitten off her lip trying to hold it back.

She was about to take the Elf on again for a round three but didn't get the chance as their positions were switched in one swift movement. It was now Saadia's time to moan as Brelyna took the woman's breast in her mouth and drove a finger into her core. She started at an excruciatingly slow pace but gradually sped up when the Redguard arched herself into the Dark Elf's mouth. The moans increased with the speed, and got louder when she pumped harder. It went on like this until the barmaid had her first release, staining the bed and spurring the Dunmer to add another finger and carry on at the same pace.

Every time the woman reached her peak Brelyna added another finger to bring her through it. She didn't go more than three finger in case it got painful, but she carried on hard and fast with that many causing many a scream and moan of pleasure to be torn from the woman's mouth. It was the bite on the tip of the Redguard's nipple that drove her over the edge, causing her to let loose a long moan at the last and largest orgasm yet and then collapse against the now soaking bed worn out.

Brelyna fell onto the bed next to her and wrapped her arm around the Redguard, pulling Saadia tight against her. When the two both got their breathing right, they finally feel to sleep wrapped around each other. She thanked the gods she wasn't drunk. She wanted to remember this in the morning.

**Lydia POV**

'_At last! They've finally stopped!'_ Lydia thought in exasperated relief when the moans had subsided. It had gone on for almost an hour and she couldn't sleep with it in the background. Even with the mead in her system she was finding it hard with all the noise. Unfortunately every time she closed her eyes all she could imagine were images of those two 'going at it,' and it was becoming increasingly difficult to focus on sleeping. She wasn't even into women and she was finding it distracting. Just in a different way to someone who was.

After realising all attempts at sleeping were futile Lydia decided to go on a night-time walk round the city to clear her head. Hopefully that would tire her out. And if it didn't, she could always buy a stamina potion somewhere with what was left from Brelyna's money she had borrowed.

Lydia had only been walking for a few minutes before she already regretted this walk. She was dumbfounded when she watched her Thane being carried off by a large amount of guards towards the city keep. Or more accurately, the city dungeons. She ran over to one of the guards to ask what was happening. But after tripping over the unmoving, bloodied, but still alive body of Nazeem, she worked it out herself. She didn't blame him really, Nazeem could be extremely annoying to talk to.

Pulling herself off the ground she ran up to the man in charge to try to sort this out.

"Out of the way," the man grumbled when she blocked his path.

"What happened here?" Lydia asked, trying to find out just how much damage Resh had done.

The man looked back at Resh and muttered, "This drunkard got pissed off at Nazeem, like everyone does one day, and decided to shut him up. To be fair it wasn't like he wanted to actually injure him, it was more just taking a drunken swipe at him."

"Is that it?"

"No. When the guards went to apprehend him, he broke one of their noses through the man's helmet. We're going to have to get a new one for him because of the dent. Fortunately, before he did anything else he passed out from all the mead," he replied gesturing to the unconscious body the guards were carrying.

"How much is the bounty?" Lydia asked, hoping the small amount of coin she had and however much Resh still had could cover it.

"80 gold for the two assaults, and 35 for a new helmet," he explained. Lydia had nowhere near that much and, seeing as how drunk Resh was, she doubted he had much money left either.

Just as she was about to speak up a different guard cut in, "Hey, one second, I know you. You're Lydia, the Housecarl to the new Thane. Is this him?"

Lydia couldn't believe she almost forgot about this. The guards would never lock up the city's Thane. The amount of trouble they would get in would be huge. She could just tell them and get him out of trouble. But then again, he _had_ ditched her and Brelyna in a tavern with no money and nowhere to sleep. And Lydia was in a vengeful mood.

"Nope. Never seen him in my life before. Carry on."

As she watched the guards just shrug and proceed to drag the large man to the jails, Lydia started to wonder if she had made a good choice. Probably not, but who cares? It was funny, and he kind of deserves a night in a cell for what he'd done to her today.

**I hope you all enjoyed the sex chapter, if it wasn't very good don't blame me, not being a lesbian myself I don't really have much experience in that aspect so I'm not entirely sure how to write it, I gave it a shot though so it's better than nothing. **

**Please review, favourite and follow etc.**

**Jamie out.**


	40. Two's Company Three's A Crowd

**Another chapter for you guys and gals out there, I hope you all like my frequent updates and such, there's more where that came from. Anyways though, here it is…**

**Resh POV**

When Resh woke he found himself lying down in a grimy puddle on the cold stone floor of a jail cell. He groaned when he stood up holding his head in his hands, _'What did I do last night?'_

He barely remembered any of it. He could just about recall a celebration with those friendly wolves and then drinking lots of the Nordic drink, which he reminded himself that he should really stop drinking it if this is what happened. There was also that annoying Redguard man that kept talking about Cloud districts. He didn't even know what they were. But the man's tone annoyed him, so he knocked him out. He was so condescending Resh doubted that he would have done anything different if sober instead. Hopefully that was all he did and he would be let out soon. If he had somehow accumulated a life sentence of some kind, he didn't know what he would do. He would probably have to break out, lest he be stuck in a jail cell for eternity because he had no age limit.

He glanced over to see a female guard sitting at a table trying to hold back laughter at him, obviously realising that he was the Thane of the city, but still in a cell. Her mocking looked irked him to no end. He had to resist the urge to set her on fire. Thankfully the assault was the only thing he had done, so within the hour the guardswoman came to the door to let him out and return his equipment. It was still quite early in the morning, so he would probably have to wake up Lydia and Brelyna. Making his way back to the tavern, Resh laughed when he say the Redguard he had punched look at him and start walking the other way hastily, served him right for being rude.

The tavern itself was seemingly empty, bar Hulda, the owner of the tavern, standing at the counter. Resh concluded that Lydia and the mage-elf must have somehow acquired a room and still be asleep.

"Are you looking for someone?" Hulda asked when she noticed him scanning the room.

"Yes, do you know someone called Lydia? Dark brown hair with a braid, light blue eyes, pale skin, wears iron armour, about _this _tall?" Resh gestured to where her height would be on him to get the point across.

"I remember. Your elf friend took a shine to the Redguard barmaid Saadia and she gave them free rooms. Your wife's is in that one," she said pointing to the one to his left and tossed him a ring of keys.

"She not my wife," Resh replied, voice laden with confusion at why she would possibly think he would be married to a Nord.

She seemed shocked at this, but then quickly corrected herself, "Girlfriend?"

"No... She's just a friend," he explained. Resh was worried now, what if everyone thought that they were in a relationship?

"Huh, I just assumed you were together. Most people don't remember friends' eye colour, and you only seemed intent on finding her and not the other one." She smirked while she was saying it, obviously noticing how it was affecting him.

Resh scoffed, _'Of course I remember other people's attributes, Brelyna's hair was… well that was different, she always wore a hood. He knew her eye colour though. He was pretty sure if was some shade of red.' _Resh shook his head. He didn't know why he was getting so defensive about it, just because he knew one friend more than the other didn't mean people should assume they were in a relationship. He would never stoop to being with a human.

He quickly opened the door and slipped inside to avoid the bar woman's' mocking gaze. Resh turned to see Lydia smirking at him like the other woman was. _'What is it with mocking glares and women today?'_

"Have fun in jail last night?" she asked sweetly, a blatantly fake display of innocence plastered on her face. Resh didn't know how but he could tell just from looking at her that it was somehow was her fault.

"No, not really. I woke up face down in a pool of scummy water, with a hangover. I'm assuming by the look on your face you had something to do with it," he ground out, un-amused by her idea of a joke.

"I wasn't the reason you were in jail. Although you are aware if you had just told them you were Thane they would have let you go?" she wondered if it was something she should have told him when they first met. Oh well, this way was funnier.

"No, I wasn't aware. But I was unconscious anyway so it wouldn't have mattered. I drank too much of that Black Briar stuff. Remind me to hug whoever made that drink," Resh told her. He had made a promise in his head. Albeit he was drunk, but either way Resh stayed true to promises.

"I wouldn't suggest it. Maven would probably hire someone to kill you if you even tried to go near her. Although, if it matter that much to you if you ever go to Riften and see her, you could always try risking death." Lydia felt a pang of jealousy at the turn in conversation. There was no way the first person Resh gives any form of willing body contact to was going to be Maven. If she didn't hire goons to kill him, Lydia would herself.

"Oh. Well, that will just have to be a risk I have to take. When I promise something, I do it. Even if it's a drunk promise." He glanced over to Lydia and noticed that her armour was on the floor and that she was probably naked under her blanket. "Anyway… I'm going to go find Brelyna, and leave you to get ready. Which room is she in?"

"Next one along," she replied half asleep, so not really thinking about her response. It was only after a few moments did she realise her mistake.

Just as he was about to step into the room he could hear Lydia's frantic yelling, "No! Don't go in there!" Resh shrugged and wondered what she was talking about. He turned back from the noise Lydia was making to see Brelyna and a Redguard woman both tucked into the same bed and desperately trying to cover as much of their bodies as possible. And glaring daggers at him as if they were both going to kill him.

'_Shit.' _

Resh was not expecting that. That must have been what Lydia was shouting at him about. He was about to leave before he looked at the woman Brelyna was with. It was the barmaid the tavern owner had spoken about. He glanced one more time at the position they were in, no wonder they got free rooms.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the unmistakably painful feeling of having a ball of fire thrown at his face. It wasn't even a spell that should be very powerful but the agony of his face burning and blistering said otherwise. It was excruciatingly hard to hold back a cry of pain and he could taste himself bite hard into his tongue, drawing blood to stifle it.

"Resh, if you don't leave this room right now, I'm going to kill you!" Brelyna hissed, her voice acidic. The burning in her eyes and that in her hands were definitely supporting her words.

He didn't need to be told twice and quickly backed out clutching his smoking face in pain, if he wasn't in so much agony he would have laughed. This was only the second most painful injury he had gotten for walking into someone's 'special moments'. He would have appreciated the joke a bit more if he couldn't feel his skin melting.

**Hey people, hope you all liked that chapter, please favourite, follow and review etc. Also the thing about not remembering eye colours is actually true, in fact most people can't even remember their spouses eye colours.**


	41. The Healing Process

**Here is another chapter, I have nothing to say in these so… enjoy…**

**Lydia POV**

Although Lydia couldn't actually see what was happening, she couldn't help but laugh upon hearing the commotion. She didn't know exactly what had happened, but she hoped that Resh had left immediately at the warning tone in Brelyna's voice. He had already been in the room longer than he should have. Lydia was halfway through changing when Resh stumbled through her door clutching his face in his hands. She scrambled to cover the still nude parts of herself but realised his attention wasn't focused on her. She wasn't sure whether to be glad or disappointed.

He looked up at her and she immediately saw the why he was so distressed, "Gods, what happened to your face?"

"Let's just say I should have listened to you when you shouted," Resh said, trying to ignore the waves of pain crashing upon him.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "It looks painful."

"Your skills of observation continue to amaze me," he drawled. "Of course it's painful. I've scorched half my face!"

She snorted with amusement, "Now you know how I felt when you set fire to my hand."

Resh glared at her, _'How dare she compare the two? This is far worse.' _Regardless of his thoughts, he still felt a small pang of guilt when she reminded of that. It was not one of his better moments.

He was about to speak up and voice his opinion when Lydia began speaking again, "Resh, I'm still getting dressed, so can you please leave?" Her tone was quite awkward and Resh realised that now was probably not the right time to burst into her room. When he left the room, Lydia started to change again. _'He is very bad when it comes to picking moments to walk into rooms. He isn't too great at realising when to leave either.' _

**Brelyna POV**

"That seemed a little harsh don't you think?" Saadia said to her newest lover after watching her set fire to someone's face.

"It wasn't meant to be that powerful but I must have put more emotion into it than I thought. It's not my fault I haven't gotten laid in years at that damn College. He did linger a bit too long, though. He should have just left as soon as he saw what was happening," Brelyna explained, trying desperately to not make sure Saadia did not think ill of her by trying to shift the blame off her.

Saadia laughed at that but carried on serious again, "You can't really blame him for that. Name one other guy who wouldn't have 'lingered.'"

Brelyna thought back to other men she knew, but the only person she could think of would be J'zargo. And he would have tried to join in. Which in turn would have got him burnt even more so.

"Okay, so I overreacted a bit. No harm done," she replied, quickly amending her statement at the look on Redguard's face, "…not that much harm done."

"You should apologise to him… and fix his face," Saadia told her. The Dunmer was about to protest about how it was his fault but the glare the Redguard shot her quickly shot that down.

"I guess so. It _was _quite a strong flame, I'm surprised it didn't carve through his head," Brelyna responded, boasting her magical prowess. She stayed there a little while longer before Saadia gave her a light jab in the side with her elbow, causing her to disdainfully get up and leave the bed. Just before leaving Brelyna looked back one last time to see if she could go back to bed but was met with another stern glare. Sighing, she passed through, only to see her former victim already outside glaring at her with his still slightly smouldering face.

**Resh POV**

"You're healing this," he growled, pointing to the blistering marks down the side of his face.

Brelyna sighed when she saw him. It wouldn't be hard to heal him, but she now doubted he would let her travel with him after this. And she would then have to go back to the College where she wouldn't ever be able to have fun like the night before.

"Fine. By the way, I'm sorry about the fireball. It wasn't meant to be so powerful, but I guess I'm a stronger mage than I thought," Brelyna apologised. She realised it probably wasn't such a great one because of the boasting of her magic. Regardless she still pooled her magicka and started to channel it into the wound, slowly but surely closing it.

"It's okay. It's not the worst injury I've seen happen to people in my position. I've even broken someone's arm for walking in on me and my old lover," he explained. Punishment through pain wasn't really an issue to the Tsaesci, so he didn't really care that much about her use of magic.

"Wow… that seems overly harsh. Much worse than what I did," she replied slowly. Breaking someone's arm could potentially kill someone or give permanent damage if not healed immediately.

"It was either that or the woman I was with doing a lot worse. So I think it was more of a mercy than anything else." Brelyna noticed a small look of sadness flash over his eyes, but it was quickly replaced with his normal expression.

Brelyna was also starting to wonder what kind of woman his old lover would have been like to do more than break someone's arm for interrupting. "What was she like to do _worse_ than break someone's arm?" Brelyna inquired, bewildered.

"Let's just say she could be very vengeful. I was her best friend and she knocked me out for days."

"Why would she do that?" Brelyna asked with a shocked voice, this woman sounded horrible.

"In fairness, I kind of had it coming," Resh replied, he looked at the elf again who clearly wanted him to elaborate judging by the stunned look on her face. "I accidently froze off her finger."

Brelyna was about to ask how, but decided it would be easier not to bother, "Yeah, you 'kind of had this coming' as well."

"I was stunned," Resh stated. It was true though, it was merely surprise when he walked through the door.

"It's alright. I understand the reason you lingered a bit, believe m-"

Resh growled, realising what she was getting at, "Don't flatter yourself."

It was now Brelyna's turn to growl in anger, "_What?_"

"It's not you personally. It's just you and your new _friend_ aren't really my type." It was true. Neither of them were gold, nor did they have anything like a tail.

"_How so?_" she pressed, angry despite not even wanting his attention. It was more the insult of him not finding her attractive.

"It doesn't really matter does it? Anyway, you need to carry on fixing my face,"

Brelyna crushed down the anger at him and carried as best she could. "There will still be some scarring, but I've healed all I can. Again, I'm sorry about all that," Brelyna said after finishing all she could.

Resh smirked. Scarring didn't matter to him, he would just have to shed again and it would be fine. He would just go out when the two were still in the city, shed, and claim he made a miraculous recovery from permanent damage.

"It's not a problem. Why don't you stay here another night? That way you can be with her a bit longer," Resh asked her, gesturing towards Saadia's room.

"You're not going to just leave without me are you? Because then I'd have to go back to the College and not on whatever adventurous stuff you plan on doing."

"No, I was considering leaving town for a few hours without you or Lydia," he answered mysteriously, not giving much information to go on.

"Why?" she asked. He'd already earned some money off hunting. What reason could he have to leave?

Resh didn't really want to tell the elf the truth about what he was. He didn't even want to tell Lydia the truth and he had known her far longer. He didn't want to lie either. "For now we'll just say it's important, you'll notice it when I get back."

**Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, as usual please follow, favourite and review etc. if you liked it. **

**Also, it's late so I can't be bothered to check if I have already said this but another author by the pen name of "Niwen" has finished drawing a picture of Resh hatching (scene from my other story) for me ** . **Tada!**


	42. Half Skinned

**Another chapter up… enjoy.**

**Lydia POV**

Lydia had only just finished changing when she left the room and she was greeted with the sight of Resh no longer with a sizzling face. She didn't have time to admire the scar left behind before he started to head towards the exit.

"Where are you going?" Lydia called when she saw her Thane leaving the tavern without her.

"I have things to do," he stated bluntly, not giving her much to go on before pushing open the door.

Lydia stopped him before he took another step forward, "What things?"

"Things I have to do on my own. I'll be gone for a few hours at least, so I decided I might as well let you and the elf have another day in Whiterun," he said, gesturing towards Brelyna who was dashing back to her room with a half gleeful half lusty look in her eye.

"What am I meant to do then? Brelyna and her new _friend_ can shag till their hearts content. But what about me? I have nothing to do," she complained. Being left alone would be the most sinfully boring thing she could think of. She wouldn't have anyone to talk to because her only friend would most likely be enjoying someone else's company and she would be forced to listen to it.

"I don't know, join in? I'm sure they wouldn't care. Do anything you want. You can't come with me, though." Lydia turned bright red at his suggestion and was too embarrassed for her to protest. And she was too busy hiding her blush to notice that he had somehow managed to slip away without her realising. Lydia hated it when he did this. If she was going to spend the day in boredom, he had better be doing something important. Otherwise it wouldn't just be Brelyna who left a mark on his face.

**Resh POV**

Resh was glad he got out of there quickly. He felt guilty enough not telling Lydia the truth. But if she kept pressing, he would probably end up having to lie, which would be even worse. He thought back to what he said to distract her and wondered if she actually would try joining in with the happy couple. He doubted it though, considering how embarrassed she seemed to get.

It was daylight so he would most likely have to find a good place to hide in a forest or cave so as not to be seen by people. Anyone who would see him probably won't react in a very friendly manner, either running away or 'trying' to kill him out of fear. Travelling through the farms around the city didn't take very long and Resh was by the city edge in minutes. It helped time-wise that he was running. But still, it wasn't long before he reached the edge of the mountains. The concealed gaps in the stone would be a great place to shed in daylight because there would be enough space for his whole length to hide.

He stripped down quickly, wanting to get this over with. It wouldn't be as hard, and therefore faster, this time to remove the layer of skin because he could just tear away at the ridge left by his newly acquired scar. It would still hurt, but not as much because there would be less gauging involved.

He grunted as he was forced to bear the pain from the original feeling of cutting into his face. He wished he had taken some alcohol with him to help dull the pain, but he knew it would probably make him reckless and cut up the new skin underneath. Once he had managed to pierce the top layer of skin it all started to flow as easily as usual. As he peeled, he started to smell the scents of people getting closer. How he hadn't noticed people following him on the way to cliffs he did not know, but he would just have to deal with it.

Resh cursed when he looked over the rocks to check. There were more of them than he had thought. They were probably bandits as well, judging by their weaponry and armour. They must have perceived him as a potential victim when he disappeared into the cliffs and thought of him as an easy target. He counted six in total, three Nords, an Imperial and two Elves. He didn't really care which kind. Why did they have to try ambushing him now of all times?

It's not like he can stay how he is as a Tsaesci and go out to attack them because then guards and other citizens might see him how he is and think him as a monster. And being naked with half his skin peeling off isn't exactly the best way to fight, especially if he had to soon revert back to his human form. As he changed he pondered what he must look like half shed in his Nordic form. It must have looked very strange if anyone had seen him, one half of him would have been all flaky from air getting under the still attached loose skin, but the other side of him would be fine. People would most likely mistake him for a vampire burning in the sun.

Luckily for him the raiding party didn't comprise of any archers, so as long as he avoided any fatal melee blows he shouldn't get too injured. Even without his own weapon he would have his superior strength and his magical capabilities to deal with them with.

When the group rounded the corner into the mountainous gap he was in they seemed to recoil in shock at the sight of him. It was understandable really. Most of them had probably never had to fight a completely naked man with peeling flaky skin and flames burning his hands. Resh used their split second of shock to his advantage and immediately went to lighting the Imperial on fire. The man's dying screams snapped the rest of the group from their confusion and they started their attack.

The first blow came from the Nord with the large war hammer. Luckily, since that sort of weapon moves slowly because of the strength required to make it work, Resh had a chance tackle him before the attack bandit didn't have much time to react before a large hand grasped onto his head and twisted, snapping his neck before he could so much as blink. After realising he wouldn't go down easy, even without weapons, the remaining four attacked all at once hoping numbers would be the best way to deal with him. It was a sound tactic in theory, but it didn't work in practice.

Resh grabbed the Elf's blade when it arced towards him. Of course it would leave a cut, but it was nothing important. Besides, when he finished shedding the mark wouldn't even be there. Using the momentum from the moving blade he had caught, Resh threw the Elf into the other Nord that had attacked, impaling him upon his own friend's weapon. The Elf's weight on his blade and his dying thrashes brought the Nord down onto the floor, powerless to stop the descending adversary. He was trapped under his comrade's body when Resh's foot came down, and the sharp kick, caving in his skull stopped any attempts of removing it.

Resh turned to his last enemy only to find a motionless corpse in its place. He didn't remember killing the final Nord. But then again the whole fight _had_ happened fairly quickly. He didn't want to take any chances though. The atmosphere around him still felt kind of _off_.

Examining the body, Resh came to the conclusion it definitely wasn't him who killed the man. He would have remembered forcibly removing the skull off the man's head. What else could have done it though? There weren't that many creatures he knew actually able to do something like that. Perhaps a troll or maybe an enraged Orc, but he had never know either of the two to be that silent. There were very few things he knew which could sneak past him without him at least noticing their presence. So the idea that someone could just _waltz_ into his fight and kill one of his enemies without him realising infuriated him.

He stayed on his guard when checking around the area. For someone to be that sneaky, he would need to watch out in case he was the next target. He hoped not, especially since it seemed they had the strength he did. It had been at least five minutes of checking around the area and he had yet to find anyone. Perhaps someone had just felt the need to help him and leave without showing themselves. Regardless, Resh still had to finish shedding, so he reverted back to his snakelike form and got back to work.

He had only just started to peel at his skin again before he could feel something _wrong_ with the air around him. It was hard to explain, but it felt as if someone was nearby. But he couldn't see them. He only just managed to pick it up but he could ever so slightly hear the sounds of stones rolling down a small slope a few metres from where he was standing. Whoever, or whatever it was had lost now. Someone could only be _so_ stealthy before being discovered. Whoever it was had pushed their luck by hanging around. Resh had to stifle a growl as he prepared to grab whatever was around the corner. No one made him look like a fool and got away with it.

He hesitated. Resh knew something was wrong with this. He could taste it in the air.

Resh snapped around as soon as he felt the movement behind him and grabbed the throat of his assailant who was diving in his direction. Unfortunately, the unknown attacker was stronger than he expected and the momentum carried them both to the floor in a jumbled heap of body parts, himself in the less 'in control' position of the two.

He was physically stronger than the aggressor, so threw them off the first chance he got. And that was only after receiving several hard blows to the stomach. By the time he got off the ground, the attacker was already on him again. Whatever they were, it was much faster than a human should be. Much faster than even his own kind should be.

He barely had time to react before he felt a familiar four fingered hand close around his mouth, and another by his neck, threatening to twist and snap. *You're getting slow, Resh. If it wasn't for our kind's agelessness I'd say you're turning senile.*

**Ooohh… development. I think I made it horrifically obvious what's happened, but oh well, deal with it. Also I was actually waiting to write this chapter for a much later date, but I was too far in to it when I realised what I was writing, so I'll have to alter my plans slightly.**

**Any speech in these things '*', means that it's being translated from another language.**


	43. Old Friends Die Hard

**Hey people, here's another chapter. My Beta is back again and spent an entire day Beta'ing more than 25 chapters, it must have taken her ages, so a big thanks to LadyDragon1316 for all the help.**

**Resh POV**

Could it really be her? Resh thought she had died. If she hadn't, this was the best day he had ever had, face burning notwithstanding. He couldn't believe it, but he only knew one person who could fight that well, and the painful hold on his neck proved it.

The hold released after a few seconds and he fell to the floor. A golden hand greeted him to help him up, all four fingers of it. It was definitely Kayce. Resh was overjoyed and let out a rare smile.

*I can't believe you're still alive! How did you know where I was?!* Resh asked cheerfully, hugging her as hard as he could, lifting her off the ground in the process.

*Oh please, it wasn't that hard. I doubt any of these other races could kill a dragon. Don't get me wrong, they have their _other uses. _ButI knew it would be a Tsaesci to kill the first dragon in years. So I went looking for you. You've always been one to overachieve,* she scoffed, stretching her spine when he put her back down.

Resh smirked, *Speaking of me doing well at things, are we going to pick off where we left off? I believe I had you close to screaming…*

Kayci laughed at that, *Sorry Resh, but I'm going to take getting ambushed by some Imperials while about to have sex as a sign that it's time for a new dawn in the 'relationship world.'*

A small amount of hurt crossed his mind but Resh decided that her reasoning had some grains of sense so decided not to object. It was to be expected, really. She'd been raised slightly different, so believed everything was some kind of sign. *Fine, but don't go sleeping around with everyone you see.*

*It won't be _everyone_…* she trailed off, smacking him playfully when he started grinning again.

*Of course it won't… Just any willing man or woman of any race, with any semblance of attractiveness…* Resh joked. A true joke, but a joke nonetheless.

*You make me sound like a slut,* she laughed.

*There's not really much I can say to that, Kayce…* She was about to speak up about him saying her name wrong _again_, but he continued, *May I point out the day I walked in on you and two Khajiit, I'm never going to get over that sight. Where you got all the rope in the deserts of Elsweyr I'll never know.*

Even Kayci turned red at that, and she was never one to get embarrassed easily. She quickly regained composure. The only reason she didn't knock him out was because of their reunion. *Fair enough. I guess I am a bit of a slut. But when it comes to our own kind, you're no better,* Kayci argued.

*Yes, that's because I have enough self-control not to mate with other races,* Resh muttered, still annoyed that she was going to pick a few savages over him.

*You say it like it's a bad thing,* his friend said, rolling her eyes.

*That's because it kind of is. Not once have I had to halt an entire expedition for a _whole week _because I took a shine to _nine_ Bosmer maidens!* Resh exclaimed, remembering the trip to Valenwood. He and the others had to go hunting _so many_ times to escape the noise being made.

*That happened once! And in fairness that's because you were always a lower rank than me. You're not allowed to lead an expedition if you're always under me,* she told him, taking pride that she was a more important person in the military than him.

*'Always under you?'* Resh asked smugly. *I do believe when we were together it was the other way around. I remember being able to hold you down quite well. You definitely weren't my superior in that situation.*

Kayci grinned, *What about that day in Cyrodiil where I had the rope, oil, and those toys and then-*

*Ok, fine! Not _all _the time! And you are to_ never_ tell _anyone_ what happened that night. It wasn't bad, but not the sort of thing everyone should know about,* Resh blurted quickly, remembering the embarrassment of that day when she was in charge.

Kayci smirked again and then looked down to the bodies around them.*I haven't eaten since I started tracking you, food or otherwise. Do you want to have those bandits? I'll have the Elves. Those High Elves always talk about how superior they are, and I agree. They taste delicious,* she said, practically licking her lips at the sight.

*I can't really eat that. I promised a friend of mine that I wouldn't eat any intelligent races.* He felt stupid explaining it to Kayce and he could see from her facial expressions that she obviously thought it was funny.

*You made a new friend? That's great. And to think I thought you would never get along with anyone. What are they like? Guy or-* She didn't get much further before Resh cut her off.

*Yes, I've made a few new friends. It's not that big a deal. And could you please refrain from trying to have sex with any of them?* Resh asked, trying to stop her from teasing him before she got into the full swing of things.

*That depends… Are any of them hot?*

For some reason Lydia came to mind, but he shook his head, *I don't look at humans and elves the same way you do,* Resh replied.

*That's a 'yes' then,* she assumed. *Where are they?*

Resh sighed, and pointed to Whiterun. It's not like there was much he could really do to stop Kayce getting what she wanted. One way or another, she was probably going to end up in bed with at least one of them. Most likely both.

Changing back to their human forms they both set off back to the city.

*By the way, you can hardly call me senile. I'm two weeks older than you!* The two looked at each other for a few seconds and then started laughing.

Resh couldn't believe he had his best friend back. He wondered what the others would think…

**I hope you all enjoyed this it has my new favourite character in it, please follow, favourite and review. On another note another writer has given his story to me to finish, so I'll be posting that up soon, improved and with more chapters. So far it's great, so I'm sure you will enjoy it.**


	44. Introductions

**Another chapter for you people, let's see how the others will react to the new presence of Kayci, and how she will react to them. **

**Resh POV**

*You've only just discovered Nordic mead? Honestly, Resh, I'm ashamed of you. You've been missing out for years because you refuse to try new things. I can't even remember how many times I've tried to get you drink the stuff.*

Resh rolled his eyes, *I had good reason. When have Nords ever been good at anything?*

*_Well…_* Kayci started, mirth spreading across her features.

*Don't answer that,* Resh cut in quickly, stopping her from her inevitably crude response.

*So anyway, where are your new friends? Do they know you're Tsaesci?* she asked, hoping yes. It would be so annoying if she had to stay in this human form all the time. It felt weird not having a tail.

*No, they don't. So it would be best if you weren't to go around eating anyone.* He could see her formulating some kind of lewd joke, but stopped her before she did with a sharp glare. *We also might want to start talking in Human so they understand us.*

*Fine, I'm s-* Kayci corrected herself, "Fine, I'm still going to talk to you in Tsaesci, though. You know I never learnt this tongue very well."

He laughed, "You never were very good at learning things. Did you ever finish learning to read?"

"In my defence, the words just look like loads of squiggles. And I did learn them… eventually…" she argued.

"Remind me again the _reason_ you learned to read," Resh asked. Kayci mumbled a bit under her breath in reply. "What was that?"

"To read 'The Lusty Argonian Maid'," she admitted. She saw the amused look on Resh's face, "What? I heard it was a good book."

Resh sighed in exasperation, "How you ever got to be promoted ahead of me I will never know."

"I believe it involves knowing how to fight well…" That was the last she said before she was hoisted into the air and carried on her friend's shoulder.

"But I'm _so_ much stronger than you…" Resh smirked. He knew Kayce was a better fighter than him, but he could take solace in the fact that he could overpower her and hold her still with strength alone.

"True, but you know I could easily get down from here. You can just keep on carrying me the rest of the way. It makes me feel like royalty."

"We're here anyway, but who am _I _to disobey the woman who can take an Orc chieftain and his two bodyguards at the same time? I guess as you were with a chieftain it makes you _kind of _royalty," Resh laughed as he was answered with several playful strikes to his back.

**Lydia POV**

Lydia was sick of this. Having to wait around in some tavern, with no money to buy mead, for Resh to get back when all she could hear were the sounds of Brelyna and the barmaid having the time of their life. It just made her realise how lonely she was and how long it had been since she had been with someone.

There was little time to dwell on the thought before the tavern doors were kicked open by none other than her Thane. She would have been happy about it, were it not for the attractive woman draped over his shoulders.

Lydia was infuriated. She had practically been throwing herself at him the entire time they'd spent together and he hasn't noticed. Yet now here he was: picking up women he probably didn't know after only having left her side for a few hours.

Her anger only changed into sadness when she saw the look of complete unadulterated joy on his face. She had never seen him so happy, and it wasn't even because of her. What had she done wrong? Lydia had tried her absolute best to make him enjoy her company but it clearly wasn't enough.

Resh quickly noticed her, and then put the woman back on the floor and pointed her in Lydia's direction. The two began to speak quietly to each other out of her earshot. Lydia wondered what they could possibly be talking about.

**Resh POV**

"Wow, you've obviously picked your friends well, Resh. Are you finally coming around to humans?" Kayci whispered teasingly, noticing how the Resh's friend was particularly _well endowed_ and attractive. _Very_ attractive.

He groaned. Sometimes Kayci could just be _too _suggestive. "Pull your mind out of the gutter. She's my friend, and she's of a different race."

"Well then, I guess you wouldn't mind if I were to go after her?" she suggested.

"No!" Resh blurted, surprising himself at his reaction.

Kayci on the other hand did not seem so surprised and merely muttered, "That's what I thought," to herself with a grin.

Resh was about to tell her to shut up but Lydia had walked over by then and he didn't want to make things unnecessarily awkward.

"Who's this?" Lydia asked, nodding to the new woman who seemed to constantly be fighting back smiles. The woman was considerably taller than herself. Shorter than Resh, but still tall for a woman.

Lydia almost staggered away from Resh's smile. From what she had seen from him she didn't think him to even be able to show that much happiness. "It's Kayce! She's still alive! How great is that?!"

She felt like her whole world had just been destroyed. Resh's old lover was back and there was nothing she could do about it. She had no chance of being with him now. She opted to say nothing, lest her jealousy cloud her judgement and make her say something stupid when she _should _be happy Resh was so pleased his friend was back.

Luckily before Resh had a chance to urge her to speak again, Brelyna had just left her room, drawing the attention of all three of them due to the fact that her room was where all the noise had come from and her clothing was now dishevelled.

Brelyna could practically feel the tension in the room, pretty much all of it coming from Lydia. "Hey guys, what did I miss?"

Kayci's mouth hung open as she looked at Resh again in a '_partially _mock' dumbfounded expression. *_Two _attractive women? You've got to be doing at least _one_ of them.* Resh's reply was a shake of the head and to roll his eyes. However he was glad she was being discreet and wasn't talking in the other two's language. *Wow. Just, wow. I'm disappointed in you Resh, I expected more.*

The two other girls looked confused at what Kayci said, but thought it best not to mention it.

"You missed the return of my long lost friend, Kayce," Resh replied, gesturing to the woman Lydia was trying not to glare at.

The aforementioned woman scowled at him, "It's Kayci, and you know it."

Resh merely laughed instead of answering, glad he could still press her buttons. "Yeah, of course. Anyway, Brelyna, have you finished saying your goodbyes to your new friend? If you want I can try and come here more often so you can see her more."

"Thanks, but no thanks. That was more of a 'two night' thing than anything else," she explained. If she was going to be constantly moving and adventuring, she couldn't be tied down by a single woman who wouldn't be able to go anywhere with her.

After about ten minutes the four of them had finished packing everything and started to leave. Brelyna did say one last goodbye to Saadia, but it was nothing more than a goodbye kiss to say things were over. Luckily, neither of them seemed annoyed by the result.

'_This was one of the first times I have travelled anywhere and Lydia hasn't started trying to talk to me immediately,'_ Resh mused. Strangely he was missing her incessant questions and talkative personality.

He pondered her sudden personality change while Lydia stared daggers into the back of Kayci's head as he laughed and talked along with the new addition to the group.

**Here's another chapter, I hope you all enjoyed because these chapters are now becoming really enjoyable to write. If you liked please follow, favourite and review, etc. Every review makes me feel a little bit more awesome, and makes me love you guys a little bit more.**


	45. Languages

**Hey peeps, sorry about the small delay of a few days before this chapter, I had prior engagements taking up too much of my time. Also on Wednesday I'm going to Italy so I can't write anything unless I bring my laptop, which I probably won't do.**

**Resh POV**

*So Resh…*Kayci asked, *What have you been doing this whole time we've been apart, I would hate for you to be having so much fun without me.*

*I managed to get some title in one of these Nordic cities, hence Lydia being my servant… despite me carrying everything. And I also travelled to the College in Winterhold where I got this enchanted ring to withstand the cold,* Resh explained, lifting his hand to Kayci to show her it, she in turn lifted her own hand which had a similar band around it.

The two looked at each other for a few seconds before laughing simultaneously at the fact that they were so close to each other without realising it.

When the laughter died down Resh continued, *And as you know I killed a dragon, so that's quite important.* Resh grinned at her after noticing the look of envy on her face, *So Kayce… what's it like not being as good a hunter as me? To know that I've had bigger, more important prey fall to me?*

Before she had a chance to cut in with some smart-assed and most likely crude reply at his boasting Lydia who was trailing behind the two of them spoke up. "What language is that?"

"It's Tsaes-" Kayci's reply was interrupted by Resh's hand quickly snapping around her mouth preventing her from finishing it.

Instead Resh finished it, "A language you don't know," when he released Kayci she nodded towards Lydia and winked mouthing the words, 'Good idea, women like mystery, I'm sure Lyds here is no different' in jest, earning a glare from the man who didn't like what she was hinting at.

He was only hiding himself because of the backlash he would most likely receive for being so different, Lydia would probably end up fearing and hating him due to Nordic racism. No other reasons.

"How many languages can you speak?" Lydia asked, knowing only one herself not knowing there were any more than the common one she spoke.

"Unlike some less educated," Resh replied, smirking towards a now slightly annoyed Kayci, "I know several languages: Jel, the Argonian's language; the Khajiit's Ta'agra; Yokudan, the Redguard's tongue; the common tongue we're speaking now; several different Elven languages, and finally three other more exotic tongues you won't know, including what I was speaking to Kayce in," Resh puffed in pride as he saw Lydia stare incredulously at his skills, the Elf also seemed dumbstruck.

"So Resh, only three 'exotic languages'? I would have thought someone like yourself who is as you frequently put it in your own words 'infinitely more educated and intelligent than Kayci,' would know all four exotic languages," Kayci smirked upon seeing the irritation grow on his face.

*No one can speak Kamal,* Resh snapped, *The language is incomprehensible and just sounds like cracking ice, I along with every other person that exists and isn't made of ice can't understand it.*

Lydia watched in some sick form of happiness as their argument descended into yelling at each other in the weird hissing and growling language she couldn't understand. She knew it was horrible to think, but she wanted them to argue so there would be less chance of the two getting together. Little did she know that they argued all the time, even when they were in a relationship.

She jumped when out of the blue Resh was thrown onto the ground by the woman, despite being tall, he practically dwarfed with his size. Lydia was unsure if she should try to stop it, because on the one hand he was her Thane after all and she was required to protect him, but on the other they were friends, and he had previously mentioned Kayci doing this sort of this in the past.

There wasn't any time to do anything before the fight was resolved anyway, in the space of about ten seconds Resh had been given a bloody nose and was now being helped up by the woman who did it.

Resh didn't seem to care about his injury as the two were now in good spirits and talking again, Lydia thought it seemed like a strange way to argue, but she guessed that as the two had known each other for divines knows how long it was just how they did things.

Regardless, she felt the need to ask about it, "What was that about?"

Kayci answered that one with her usual upbeat tone, "I felt the need to put Resh back in his place, we're friends first, but I'm also his military superior so I need to show my control sometimes."

Brelyna who had been silent for a while spoke up, "So you're in charge of Resh? Can you just order him to do things and he will?"

"Yep, technically I can order him to do anything, but that would be very unethical, and humiliating for him," the man in question seemed pleased at what she had said and nodded his thanks at her for the consideration. A sly smile cracked over Kayci's face, "Even so, I were to tell him to… 'Carry me the rest of the walk,' he would have to."

All three women turned their gazes towards him, mirth evident in their features. "Luckily, Kayce isn't that _type_ of person, and would _never_ abuse her power like that," Resh said, trying to stress that Kayci isn't like that so she would be forced not to do so in jest.

"You know Resh, I'm not sure now, I would have left it hang there as a joke and nothing more. But your insistence of calling me 'Kayce' has changed my mind I think maybe I might _abuse_ my power," Kayci told him, smirking cruelly all the way.

Resh glared in indignation, "You're joking right? You're not actually going to ma-"

"Speed up Resh, I do believe I gave you an order," Resh grumbled as he begrudgingly picked up the now giggling woman and carried her along, subjected to the laughter of the other two girls as he did so.

He was going to get revenge for this embarrassment, he had gone from being admired by Lydia and the other companion, and now he was practically the laughing stock of the group. He couldn't think of anything for now, so just settled for making this the most uncomfortable journey for Kayci that he could think of.

Unfortunately jolting her up and down every few steps wouldn't be enough, worse still was that she would probably enjoy it.

"You know what? This isn't fair," Resh sighed in relief, so glad that Kayci was a kind and reasonable friend. "Carry Brelyna and Lyds as well," Resh's relief was dashed immediately as the other two women jumped onto his back.

'_I hate you Kayce…'_

**Ahhh friends, nothing better than friendly banter/rivalry/humiliation/fighting/teasing between old buddies is there?**

**I hoped you all enjoyed the chapter, and as usual, please review, follow and favourite if you did.**

**Till next time.**


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